A Merrillville man faces up to 10 years under a plea deal for a 1988 Gary murder and rape case, court records show.
Tyrone McKee, now 61, admitted Feb. 29 to plead guilty to criminal confinement, a Class B Felony.
In the plea deal, McKee admitted he got into an “argument” over “money” with 23-year-old Colleen “Daphne” Callahan on Nov. 9, 1988 on the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street, before blocking her from leaving and fatally beating her. McKee’s DNA was found on her.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled April 24 before Judge Natalie Bokota.
When the case was opened in 2019, authorities said the new DNA hit and witnesses who now talked made it possible.
The FBI Gang Response Investigative Team submitted her rape kit in May 2018 to the Indiana State Police’s Lowell lab for DNA testing, according to the probable cause affidavit. Court records said the test results picked up a partial DNA profile from two individuals, at least one of which was male.
Analysts entered the sample into the Combined DNA Index System, and the results indicated it belonged to Tyrone Andrew McKee, records said. Officers then looked at previous arrest records for McKee, one of which listed a property two houses down from the building where Callahan was found dead as his address, records said.
McKee acknowledged that his mom worked at a hotel a block away from the murder scene, but denied knowing Callahan even after officers showed him a photo of him in front of the building in which she was found, records said.
Officers then spoke with witnesses named in the original case records, who confirmed that Callahan and McKee were dating at the time of her death. The witnesses told police that they were previously afraid to come forward, records said.
He was charged with one count of murder, one count of murder while committing or attempting to commit rape, and one count of rape.
Callahan’s body was found on the afternoon of Nov. 9, 1988, in an abandoned house on the 2400 block of Connecticut Street.
Callahan was found lying on a floor littered with broken glass and pieces of a window frame, and she had numerous injuries and deep lacerations to her legs, Post-Tribune archives stated. Police said, at the time, that she had been sexually assaulted.
The autopsy indicated the cause of death was injuries from a blunt instrument, the archive stated. Other court documents said she had a skull fracture, rib fractures, internal bleeding and other wounds.
At the time of her death, Callahan was the mother of four daughters, ranging in age from 1 to 6 years.
Defense lawyer John Cantrell represents McKee, while Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz led the prosecution’s case.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.