Indiana woman pleads guilty in Callaway County murder case

FULTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Indiana woman pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Thursday after being accused of helping in a 2019 murder.

Emily Ricketts, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to a single count of hindering prosecution of a felony. She is set to be sentenced Dec. 5 in Fulton before Circuit Judge Kevin Crane.

Ricketts was charged in January 2019 with accessory to first-degree murder in the death of Lauro Garza-Perez, who was found dead in the 1500 block of Highway 40 near the Boone-Callaway County line.  

Investigators are still looking for Ruben Corales Cabrera of Indianapolis in connection with the killing. His last known location is Mexico, the Callaway County sheriff said last November. He is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Ricketts admitted in the plea to giving Cabrera transportation and money so that he could avoid authorities. She was arrested in Southern California before being brought back to Callaway County last November.

According to court documents, Ricketts was in the passenger seat of a dark grey Volkswagen Jetta with Garza-Perez the night of the murder. The two were being followed by Cabrera, who was driving a red Chevrolet Corvette on Old Highway 40, a Callaway County Sheriff’s Office investigator wrote in a probable cause statement.

Surveillance video showed that Cabrera got stuck in a ditch near the county line, then chased Garza-Perez into the Laser Transports parking lot and shot him repeatedly, court documents said.

Authorities say Ricketts then got into the driver seat of the Volkswagen, picked up Cabrera and drove him to get his car out of the ditch.

Ricketts remains in the Callaway County Jail.