A Warsaw man will face three years in jail after being sentenced on a reckless homicide charge Monday.
Kyle David Shaw, 35, of 920 Anchorage Road, lot 94, Warsaw, was sentenced Monday to five years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with three years executed and the last two years to be completed through probation for reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony.
Shaw received three days credit of jail time. He was also ordered to pay $4,945.65 in restitution to Heather Emelio’s mother, Kathy Gassil, and to pay a $100 fine.
On Oct. 29, Warsaw police responded to Shaw’s residence to a call about a woman shot in the neck. According to court documents, when officers arrived, Shaw ran out of the mobile home with blood on his hands, feet and clothing. Officers entered the residence and found Emelio with a gunshot wound to her neck. EMS personnel arrived and advised Emelio was dead.
According to court documents, when police spoke to Shaw, Shaw stated he and Emelio were in their bedroom walking toward the bathroom. Shaw was holding a 40 caliber handgun with a fully-loaded magazine and a cartridge in the chamber. He stated he was holding the gun and Emelio bumped into him, causing him to drop the gun. He caught the gun and his thumb struck the trigger, causing the gun to discharge.
According to Kosciusko County Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed, Shaw pleaded guilty to the reckless homicide charge in March. According to the plea agreement, the charge of criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 6 felony, was dropped.
During Monday’s sentencing, Deputy Prosecutor Matt Buehler read a letter dated Sunday from Emelio’s grandmother, Patti Hoover. In the letter, she stated Emelio and her children would visit regularly.
“I will never see or hear from her again,” the letter said. “I will miss her calls and visits more than I can say.”
Gassil also spoke during the sentencing. She stated her daughter is no longer with us.
“Losing her is like losing a part of me,” she said. Emelio never had a great relationship with her father, so it was the two of them.
Gassil stated after Emelio got pregnant at 16, she went back to school and got her GED and her associate’s degree in business administration and had a good job.
“I was present for the birth of both of my grandchildren,” she said. Now, those grandchildren were taken 944 miles away “because of a senseless, reckless and irresponsible act.”
“I’ll never be able to share the major milestones of her children” with her, Gassil said. She also stated she will never have a multi-generational picture taken since one generation is gone.
“I’m no longer someone’s momma. No one will ever call me mom again,” she said.
Defense attorney Austin Rovenstine spoke about mitigating factors in the case. Those mitigating factors included Shaw was trying to undo what he had done. A person only need to look at Shaw’s mugshot to see how broken up he was about the shooting, Rovenstine said. Shaw accepted responsibility in all sense of the law, he said.
“I just want to tell Heather’s family I’m truly sorry for what happened and nothing I can say will fix it,” Shaw said.
Reed did say due to the charge of reckless homicide being a Level 5 felony, the court was limited in the sentencing parameters that were put down by the legislature.
“I don’t pretend to have the answers,” Reed said, noting the case has “crushed a lot of people.” He stated Gassil lost her daughter and Shaw lost his best friend. No amount of time Reed incarcerated Shaw for would bring Emelio back. “If I believe Mr. Shaw, then there is no punishment that can be inflicted on him” than is worse than what he’s already been through.
