A man admitted he stabbed a man to death outside an East Chicago bank, before dumping the body in a Lake Station lake, according to an Oct. 1 plea agreement.
Christian O. Mora, 20, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. If a judge accepts, his prison term would be capped at 20 years, to be argued at a Nov. 12 sentencing hearing. A judge took it under review Tuesday.
He was charged Dec. 3, 2019, in the death of Erik Lozano, 34, of East Chicago. They got into a fight over money outside a bank, where Mora stabbed him several times, according to court documents.
Four men were looking to make money by robbing people Thanksgiving night, and they started the evening by chasing a young man near St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Three of them — Nathaniel Ostapchuk, now 23, of Lake Station, Casey Hall, of Merrillville, and Adam M. Martin, 20, of Lake Station — returned to Mora’s car, which Hall and Martin described as a light blue Ford Crown Victoria or Mercury Grand Marquis, the affidavit said.
An hour or two later, he came back with another man, Lozano.
The five of them drove to the BMO Harris Bank in East Chicago when Mora and Lozano got out of the car, records said. Hall and Martin separately told police that they saw Mora and Lozano physically fighting after they got out, then saw that Mora had stabbed Lozano, records said.
Martin told officers they left Lozano’s body at the bank and Mora drove the three to a house Mora believed was Lozano’s because he thought that was where they’d find Lozano’s drugs and money, according to the affidavit.
The four drove back to the bank, and Martin and Hall put Lozano’s body in the trunk because Mora was concerned his fingerprints were all over the area, the affidavit said. They then drove to Warrick Park in Lake Station, which is near Martin’s house, and Martin went to his house and grabbed garbage bags and bleach, records said.
The four men put garbage bags on themselves, then poured the bleach on Lozano and covered him in garbage bags, records said. Mora told Martin and Ostapchuk to drive around the block; when they returned, Mora told them it had been “taken care of,” records said.
Ostapchuk, Hall, and Martin were each charged with assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony, all still pending.
Hall signed a plea agreement in July. His sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 19.
