The sentencing hearing for a man accused of taking a Griffith woman’s overdosed body to Gary to burn was rescheduled Thursday.
Emmit Yarbrough faces up to 10 1/2 years in a plea deal for burning a Griffith woman’s body in an abandoned Gary building in September 2022.
Yarbourgh, 56, of Gary, pleaded guilty in March to arson, a Level 4 felony, and abuse of a corpse, a Level 6 felony.
His lawyer Susan Severtson told Judge Natalie Bokota Thursday he still needs to be evaluated by the Lake County Community Corrections program and she needs to read several victim impact letters.
His new sentencing date is at 10:30 a.m. on May 23.
Deborah Leslie was found Sept. 23, 2022, in a torched-out house on the 5300 block of W. 8th Avenue in Gary. She was last seen alive on camera at a Hammond Motel 6.
Yarbrough and his late co-defendant Heather Richardson were the last people seen with her.
Richardson died of a drug overdose in January 2024.
Court and prison records show Yarbrough was convicted for voluntary manslaughter for shooting dead Thomas Karins on Dec. 31, 1981, in Gary. Newspaper clippings indicate Yarbrough was 14. Karins was a construction company executive.
In exchange for his plea in the arson, Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Bradewie agreed not to file a habitual offender enhancement, which would have added 5-20 years. They will also drop all other lower-level charges.
mcolias@post-trib.com
