Nov. 7 – A Lebanon man was convicted of murder in the June 2023 death of a Franklin woman.
Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge Donald E. Oda II found Elijah Malik Thomas, 28, guilty of aggravated murder with firearm specifications, two counts of murder and related charges in the death of Katelyn Puckett, 23, in her home, according to a release Thursday from the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.
After the two-day trial, Oda also found Thomas guilty of assault and unlawful discharge of a firearm into or into a dwelling, prosecutor David P. Fornshell said.
Thomas faces a mandatory life sentence, Fornshell said. Oda ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for a later date.
On June 17, 2023, Thomas approached Puckett as she returned to her apartment and fired nine shots at close range in front of eyewitnesses, the prosecutor’s office said. Six of the shots struck Puckett, officials said.
Franklin police officers said they were dispatched to Boulder Drive near the Emerald Edge Apartments on East Second Street (Ohio 73) around 12:40 a.m. on June 18, where they found Puckett had been shot multiple times. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say Thomas fled on foot. Thomas was arrested around 9:35 a.m. that day after a traffic stop in Franklin and taken into custody without incident, according to police.
