Theopulus Gordon could have prevented the death of Eric Robinson last September, but he didn’t.FORT WAYNE – Aliahna Lemmon’s alleged killer offered no answers Wednesday – just a quiet “yes, sir” to a judge’s procedural questions.
After a brief initial hearing, Michael Len Plumadore hung his head and shuffled out of the Allen County Courthouse, silent.
If convicted of 9-year-old Aliahna’s murder, Plumadore could face 45 to 65 years in prison on the murder charge alone – or the death penalty, should prosecutors seek it.
In addition to being formally charged with Aliahna’s murder, he is charged with abuse of a corpse and moving a body from the scene of a suspicious or violent death, each of which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Aliahna’s dismembered body was discovered Dec. 26. Plumadore, police said, led to that discovery, allegedly confessing to killing Aliahna at his home in Northway mobile home park near Diebold Road and North Clinton Street.
The widespread attention given the case prompted the Allen County sheriff to station dozens of officers throughout the Courthouse for Plumadore’s first court appearance. Department spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said Plumadore has been kept isolated from the general population in the Allen County Jail.
During the brief hearing, Allen Superior Court Magistrate Samuel Keirns entered a not guilty plea on Plumadore’s behalf.
Plumadore will be appointed a public defender, and his trial date will be set Jan. 18 at another hearing.
Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27.
According to charging documents, Plumadore told police Dec. 26 that he killed Aliahna by striking her in the head multiple times with a brick while she was standing on the front steps of his mobile home in the early morning four days earlier. Police and volunteers had been searching for Aliahna since the night of Dec. 23.
He said he took her body, wrapped in trash bags, into the home and put it in the freezer, before dismembering the body late the night of Dec. 22 and early morning Dec. 23. Plumadore told police they would find Aliahna’s head, hands and feet in his freezer, and when a search warrant was executed Dec. 26, they did, court documents said. Other body parts had been bagged and disposed of in the trash bin of a nearby business, Plumadore allegedly admitted.
Plumadore had cared for Aliahna’s grandfather until his recent death, and Aliahna and two 6-year-old sisters had been staying with him for a week while their mother was ill, family members have said. When Aliahna was reported missing about 8:45 p.m. Dec. 23, Plumadore told police he last saw her about 6 a.m. that day when he left home to buy a cigar at a nearby convenience store.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
