Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Muskingum County, OH: Man convicted of killing wife's former lover

A Muskingum County jury has convicted a man accused of killing his wife’s former lover.

Terrell M. Nowlin, 26, was arrested in July 2010 and later indicted on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

Today, the jury convicted him on all of those charges except one of four charges of tampering with evidence.

Nowlin was accused of killing Tyler Hardin, 19, of Zanesville, because Hardin wanted to share custody of the child he had with Nowlin’s wife, 20-year-old Heather Nowlin, of Zanesville. Hardin was shot twice, including once in his face.

Mrs. Nowlin pleaded guilty in November to charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, kidnapping by deception and tampering with evidence. She testified last week against her husband in the trial that began Dec. 12 in Zanesville.

She has not been sentenced.

Muskingum County Prosecutor D. Michael Haddox said that when it became clear that Hardin was going to get some sort of parental rights to the child, Mr. Nowlin hatched the plan to kill him.

Haddox said that on July 10, 2010, Mrs. Nowlin asked Hardin whether he wanted to go swimming with her and their daughter. When he agreed, she drove him to the secluded spot the Nowlins had picked for the ambush while Mr. Nowlin followed in his own car.

Hardin became suspicious when he noticed Mr. Nowlin following them. When they arrived at their destination, the two men got into a fight while Heather Nowlin left with her 19-month-old daughter.

Mrs. Nowlin told police that after the killing, her husband threatened her that if she told anyone what happened, he would kill her. She led police to Hardin’s body about a week after he was killed.

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