Jamerus P. Parkman, 35, pleaded guilty to murder and burglary on Friday, Oct. 23, in the death of Susan Haynie, a well-known Evansville real estate agent whose body was found in the basement of her home. He had originally pleaded not guilty, and changed his plea days before his trial was set to begin.
Evansville police said officers were first called to Haynie's Gum Street home for a report of a medical emergency on the afternoon of Aug. 27, 2025. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators soon said the case was being investigated as a homicide. By the following month, Parkman had been charged with burglarizing the home and murdering Haynie.
Investigators said they believed Parkman entered the house through an unlocked door, and that preliminary results from physical evidence linked him to the killing. Items seized from his hotel room included a tablet that allegedly showed he was in Haynie's yard at the time of her death, according to police statements at the time of his arrest.
Parkman had been released on parole in February 2025 after serving 13 years of a 35-year sentence for burglary, robbery and attempted rape between 2008 and 2010, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. Haynie's death later helped inspire Indiana House Bill 1250, a law requiring the Department of Correction to notify local prosecutors, sheriffs and police chiefs at least seven days before releasing a serious violent felon into a community.
In her obituary, Haynie was remembered as a lifetime resident of Evansville who combined deep roots in the community with her professional expertise as a realtor. Parkman is set to be sentenced on Dec. 2, court records show.
