Plymouth Man Arrested In Woman’s Murder
Staff Report
PLYMOUTH — A Plymouth man was recently arrested after allegedly killing a woman with a machete.
Duane Nathan Longacre, 35, 920 N. Plum St., Plymouth, is charged with murder, a felony; arson, a level 4 felony; and resisting law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor.
On June 28, Plymouth Police responded to a medical call. Upon arrival, officers saw Longacre yelling out of a residence’s front window. Officers then noticed smoke coming from a window of the residence and attempted to remove Longacre from the building.
According to court documents, Longacre allegedly began to barricade himself in the residence. Officers attempted to make entry at other windows but were unable to. Longacre then attempted to flee out of the residence’s back entrance, where an officer tased him and, after a brief struggle, took him into custody. The officer noticed Longacre had blood on his hands.
The Plymouth Fire Department arrived on the scene and began fighting the fire. After the fire was under control, firefighters entered the residence to continue putting the fire out. Upon checking the rooms in the residence, firefighters found a deceased woman, later identified as Jill McCarty, in a bathtub.
Officers inspected McCarty’s body and noticed a neck injury that appeared to be made by a knife or other sharp object. Officers then found a machete-type object laying near McCarty’s body.
A woman who was at the residence at the time of the murder said she exited the bathroom and saw Longacre dragging McCarty’s body to the bathroom. Longacre then asked the woman to help him drag McCarty’s body.
Another witness said he was in the residence when he saw Longacre standing behind McCarty and that Longacre hit McCarty in the back of the head with what he believed to be a machete. He then saw Longacre grab McCarty by the arms and drag her to the bathroom, mentioning that there was a lot of blood and it needed to be cleaned up. The man and woman both left the residence and called 911.
Officers then obtained a search warrant for the residence, as well as Longacre’s clothing, buccal swabs and swabs of possible blood on Longacre’s body.
An Indiana State fire investigator was called to the scene to investigate the possibility of arson. The investigator determined that the fire was set in three locations and believed that none of the fire locations were started with an accelerant, only an open flame.
Prior to an officer taking swabs from Longacre, Longacre was combative with jail staff and head-butted a jailer in the head. He continued to be combative and had to be pepper-sprayed when he would not comply with jail staff.
Longacre admitted to dragging McCarty into the bathroom and trying to put pressure on her wounds. He said he believed the woman at the residence was the one who injured McCarty. Longacre allegedly said that McCarty was evil and had put a bounty on his head. He concluded his interview with officers by saying he needed to speak with a higher power, like President Donald Trump.
Longacre was booked in the Marshall County Jail on June 29 with no bond.