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Last updated on Friday, October 26, 2018
(BEDFORD) - Lincoln Pickett was sentenced to 84 years to the Department of Corrections by Superior Court I Judge William Sleva.
A Lawrence County Superior Court II jury found Lincoln Pickett guilty of killing 29-year-old Kami Ratcliff on Jan. 21, 2016 in the back seat of his red Blazer after an argument. He then waited a week before burning her body in a pit at his home at 3413 US 50 West.
He was also found guilty of obstruction of justice, abuse of a corpse false informing and failure to report a dead body and possession of a firearm by a violent felon.
"All murder trials are horrible, some more than others," Judge Sleva said while handing down the verdict. "This murder was committed with the victim's child sitting next to her in the back seat of a vehicle... I can't even imagine what it was like for this baby who was sitting next to her mother... Then you disposed of the body so that her family and friends could never have the closure a funeral brings."
Pickett was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, showed no sign of emotion as the sentence was handed down.
Kami's family addressed the judge before he handed down the sentence.
Kami's niece, Ally Deckard read a letter written by Kami's mother, Kathy Riggle.
"I will never understand why you killed my baby girl..." she wrote. "Our lives will never be the same. We live a nightmare every day."
Bridget Roach, Kami's sister, testified that she didn't know where to begin when addressing Pickett.
"At one point I knew you as a different person," she said. "Every day is now a struggle for me... I think of everything she (Kami) is going to miss.
She then read a letter written by Ed Brashear, Kami's ex-husband and father of Kami's three children.
"I don't know how to explain the pain and hurt... how to express something so hard," Brashear wrote.
Brashear wrote that he still loved his ex-wife and had hoped they would reconcile one day.
Ed wrote the hardest thing he ever did was to tell his three children their mother was dead.
"I had to look upon their innocent faces and tell our beautiful sweet babies their mother was gone," he wrote. "I watched a part of them leave them....This pain will last a lifetime."
Judge Sleva sentenced Pickett to the following:
The sentences will be served consecutively for a total of 84 years.
Public Defender Joseph Lozano filed an appeal.
During closing arguments, Prosecutor Michelle Woodward laid out a timeline of events leading up to the murder.
She told the jury that events began to unfold on Jan. 21, 2016 when Ed Brashear became concerned when his ex-wife and mother of his children, Kami Ratcliff, failed to call their children or show up for scheduled weekend visits.
Brashear testified that Kami called at least twice a day to talk to the couple's three children. When he had not heard from her and couldn't reach her Brashear contacted Ratcliff's family members putting the wheels in motion to try and locate Kami.
On Jan. 18th, Lincoln picked up Kami and Jenna, her then 9-month-old daughter, to stay a few days at the Pickett home on US 50 West.
On Jan. 20th, There was a fight between Kami and Lincoln, when Kami belched in Lincoln's face. The fight happened in Jasmine Pickett and Lincoln's bedroom. Jasmine then got between the two when the fight became physical. Jasmine also testified that Lincoln pushed Kami several times and when she got between them he hit her. He then pulled out a gun and pistol-whipped her, cutting her head.
The fight woke up Jasmine and Lincoln's three children. Jasmine then went to comfort them and noticed blood on her head.
On Jan. 21, Jasmine got up with the kids and put them on the school bus.
That afternoon Kami then decided that she wanted to go home. Kami and Jasmine changed clothes, put on their makeup and gathered Kami's belongings. As they were getting ready to leave, Lincoln said he forgot something and went back into the mobile home, but returned with no visible item. Lincoln drove, with Jasmine in the front passenger seat. Jenna was in the back seat in a car seat behind Lincoln and Kami was in the rear passenger seat behind Jasmine in the couple's red Blazer.
Kami decided that she didn't want to go to the home of David Burton Jr. but wanted to go to the home of a man known as "Cowboy." Lincoln said he didn't want to take her there. The two then got into a verbal argument and Kami began yelling about criminal confinement and people going to jail.
The fight intensified and a motorist called the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department to report an erratic driver in a red Blazer. The caller said the driver was veering all over the road, passing vehicles in turn lanes and running a red light at the intersection of US 50 and State Road 37.
Kami decided to have Lincoln to take her to her mother's home but said that once they were there that Lincoln and Jasmine would go to jail for criminal confinement.
Jasmine told Kami that she didn't care what happened to Lincoln, but that she had done nothing to go to jail. This made Lincoln mad, so he punched Jasmine in the face, dislocating her jaw and causing her to pass out.
When she regained consciousness, she heard a 'pow' that caused her ears to ring. She asked Lincoln what the sound was and he replied "Oh God" and he looked scared. Lincoln told Jasmine to put her head down in the front seat and Jasmine followed his instruction and heard gurgling from the backseat.
Lincoln then rushed home and backed the Blazer into the garage and handed Jasmine baby Jenna.
On Jan. 22. Lincoln traveled to Loogootee in the red Blazer to visit his sister, Allanya O'Neal. Pickett told O'Neal that he shot a cat, then changed to the story saying he shot a buddy. He changed the story yet again, admitting that he shot a girl in the face. He then borrowed a vehicle from O'Neal and her boyfriend, Mel Rousch.
On the way back to Mitchell, he stopped at a gas station to put fuel in the borrowed vehicle. While there, O'Neal noticed blood splatter on the back windows of the Blazer and asked Lincoln about it. Lincoln told her that it was from a deer.
Later that night, Jasmine called Kami's parents, Kathy and Rodney Riggle, to come to pick up Jenna. They told the couple that they didn't know where Kami was.
On Jan. 23, Rodney Riggle went back to the Pickett's mobile home to again asked about Kami's whereabouts. The Picketts told Rodney that Lincoln gave Kami money to purchase diapers and formula and she went to Walmart and that she never returned.
On Jan. 25, Mitchell Police officer Matt England visited the Pickett's home and they told him the same story that Kami went to Walmart and never returned.
On Jan. 28th Indiana State Police secured a search warrant for the Pickett home and found Kami's backpack in a shed. They also discovered blood in the Blazer and found Kami's bones in a fire in a burn pit. Both Jasmine and Lincoln were then arrested.
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