MUNCIE, IN — The murder conviction of a Muncie man who beat his former wife to death with a baseball bat has been upheld by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
A Delaware Circuit Court 4 jury in December 2024 found Ceaser Lewis Curtis, now 52, guilty of murder in the September 2023 slaying of Marcia Curtis.
The decomposing remains of the 46-year-old victim — who had divorced Ceaser Curtis a few months before her death — were found outside an abandoned mobile home along East Delaware County Road 800 East. Family members said she had been missing for two weeks.
An autopsy determined her death had been caused by massive head injuries that resulted in at least four skull fractures.
Judge John Feick In February sentenced Curtis to 60 years in prison for the murder conviction and added 18 years as the penalty for a habitual offender finding.
The Muncie man’s prior criminal record included convictions for arson and driving while intoxicated.
At the sentencing hearing, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Zach Craig called Marcia Curtis’ slaying “the most heinous and brutal murder I’ve seen.”
In an appeal, Curtis maintained jurors should not have heard testimony about allegations that in the months before the homicide, he pointed a gun at Marcia Curtis at her place of employment, shot her vehicle with a BB gun and was observed near her home before it was set on fire.
In a 3-0 opinion issued Oct. 9, the appeals court rejected that argument.
The testimony was “admissible to show (Curtis’) motive and, therefore, did not constitute fundamental error,” Judge Elisabeth Tavitas wrote in the ruling.
After the appeal was denied, Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said, “The world is much safer with Ceaser Curtis behind bars for the rest of his life.”
Curtis, incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, has a projected release date in March 2082, according to a state Department of Correction website.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Appeals court upholds Muncie man’s murder conviction in ex-wife’s slaying
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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