Appeals court upholds murder conviction of Winchester man who killed neighbor
WINCHESTER, Ind. — The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of a Winchester man, and his resulting 64-year prison sentence.
A Randolph Circuit Court jury in August 2022 found Monty Joseph Cook, now 64, guilty of killing his neighbor and lifelong acquaintance, David Brumley.
The 61-year-old victim was found in his South Street home, in November 2018, with a pillow case and a plastic bag over his head. An autopsy determined he had died as a result of "ligature neck compression" that caused asphyxia and suffocation.
During the trial, Randolph County Prosecutor David Daly said Cook also stole the victim's 2008 Ford Mustang GT and used Brumley's debit card.
Investigators said Cook had made "incriminating Internet searches" around the time of the homicide, and that the defendant's DNA and fingerprints were recovered from the crime scene.
The Ford Mustang was found in eastern Arkansas three weeks after the slaying. Cook was arrested in April 2019 in Kingman, Arizona, about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
The jury also found the Winchester man guilty of auto theft and two counts of theft.
In September 2022, Judge Jay Toney imposed a 62-year sentence for the murder conviction, and sentenced Cook to two more years, to be served consecutively, for the theft convictions.
In his appeal, Cook — who did not testify at his trial or make a statement prior to being sentenced — maintained there was insufficient evidence to support the murder conviction, and that his sentence was too harsh.
In a ruling this month, the Indiana Court of Appeals disagreed.
"Cook's Internet browsing history suggests that, in the weeks before Brumley's murder, Cook planned to kill someone, dispose of the body and go on the run," Judge Leanna Weissman wrote in the 3-0 decision.
"Security cameras then recorded Cook with Brumley's car, debit card and loan check the day after Brumley was last seen alive."
The judge also wrote that "neither the nature of Cook's offenses nor his character convinces us that his 64-year sentence is inappropriate."
She found the Winchester man "carried out the premeditated, unprovoked and cruel murder of his longtime acquaintance before stealing the victim's car and money and fleeing across the country."
"What'is more, these offenses are just another chapter in Cook's alarming history of criminal conduct."
The Winchester man's earlier criminal record included convictions, in LaGrange County in 2005, for arson, burglary and conspiracy to commit confinement.
Incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Cook has a projected release date in October 2066, when he would be 107, 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: Court upholds Winchester man's murder conviction, 64-year sentence
