MUNCIE, IN — Two more Muncie residents have been charged with murder in a 15-year-old boy’s August 2024 shooting death.
Dasha L. Eckford, 20, and Atrevison Nathan, 23, were both charged in August 2024 with felonies — including conspiracy to commit robbery resulting in serious bodily injury — stemming from the killing of Latajohne Phillips outside the clubhouse at Latitude Apartments in northeast Muncie.
Delaware County prosecutors this week dropped the 2024 charges against Eckford and Nathan.
On Tuesday, April 28, they charged both defendants with murder; conspiracy to commit robbery; aiding, inducing or causing robbery; and obstruction of justice.
According to court documents, Phillips and another teen had exchanged online messages about selling or trading guns, and Phillips had brought a backpack containing at least two firearms to the scene of his shooting at Latitude Apartments in northeast Muncie.
Six local residents arrested after the 2024 homicide are accused of conspiring to rob Phillips — who had recently moved to Muncie from Dayton, Ohio, to live with relatives after his mother’s death — of his firearms.
Robert “Tre” Graham III, 18, and Robert L. Wilson, 16 — who face the same charges, including murder, now pending against Eckford and Nathan — are set to stand trial on June 6 and Aug. 10, respectively.
Graham is alleged to have admitted that he fired a fatal gunshot into the victim’s head. Wilson was 14 at the time of the killing.
On Jan. 29, a co-defendant in the case, 17-year-old K-Shaun English, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 2 felony carrying up to 30 years in prison.
Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. took under advisement a plea bargain that would place a 15-year cap on the executed sentence English could receive. However, prosecutors have since asked to withdraw from that plea agreement.
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: Two more defendants charged with murder in teen’s 2024 slaying
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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