Woman charged in Eric Phillips' murder sentenced to 4 years in prison
See Also
Tastacia Parker was sentenced on March 4.
Parker was sentenced to 4 years in prison for assisting a criminal and 2 years in community corrections/home detention for one count of perjury. The sentences will run consecutively.
As part of the plea agreement the state dismissed two counts of murder and one count of robbery against Parker.
BACKGROUND
On June 23, 2018, a South Bend Police officer was driving near the University of Notre Dame's boathouse in the 900 block of Northside Boulevard when he discovered a man lying on a curb in the parking lot of the boathouse.
The body was identified as Eric Phillips.
Video surveillance from the boathouse showed a red Mustang arriving in the parking lot around 3:30 a.m.
Two people, Tastacia Parker and Eric Phillips, got out of the vehicle and walked to the back of the Mustang.
Two other people approached the couple. One was wearing a long sleeved white t-shirt, blue jeans and white shoes. After a brief exchange between the two groups, the person wearing the long sleeved white shirt fires at least one shot at Phillips, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Phillips ran east in the parking lot, then collapsed.
Parker and the other two people who came to the scene fled south through the adult workout area, reports said.
After receiving a warrant for Phillips' Facebook account, investigators found a conversation where Phillips plans to meet with Tastacia Parker at the east Race, according to the probable cause affidavit.
When investigators interviewed Parker in late June, she admitted to going to the boathouse with Phillips and was present when he was shot, according to the probable cause affidavit.
After receiving a warrant for Parker's Facebook account, investigators found a picture of a male who was dressed similarly to the man in the long sleeved shirt on the surveillance photo.
He was later identified as Elbert Briggs.
The investigator located a photo of Briggs with a Sccy 9mm on Facebook, reports said.
In July, the projectile found in Phillips' body was identified as coming from a Sccy 9mm, and the casings recovered from the boathouse also came from a Sccy 9mm by a firearms and toolmark expert, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Investigators received a search warrant for the phone records associated with Briggs and Parker. The records showed the two were in the immediate area of the boathouse when Phillips was shot and killed, and traveled together from South Bend to Fort Wayne to West Palm Beach, Florida, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Elbert Briggs was charged with one count of murder on November 1, 2018.
Briggs was convicted of murder in June 2019 and was sentenced in July 2019 to 65 years in prison for murder.
In July 2019, Briggs was sentenced to 65 years for Phillips' murder.