Woman pleads guilty to murder, sentencing set for next month

A 37-year-old Kentucky woman charged with murder will be sentenced next month after she pleaded guilty less than two weeks before the start of her jury trial.

Alicia Bustle entered the guilty plea during a May 10 hearing ahead of the trial that was scheduled to start on May 23, according to online court records.

Bustle

She was formally charged on Feb. 11, 2021 in Brown Circuit Court. Three days before Bustle was formally charged with murder, the body of 38-year-old Patrick Harper of Kentucky was discovered in a Hicks Road home where Michael Hazelgrove, 55, lived. He later told police that Bustle had come up from Kentucky with Harper, whom he did not know. He had met Bustle before.

A relative of Hazelgrove’s had requested a welfare check on him. Hazelgrove reportedly told the relative that a woman had shot a man there, according to a probable cause affidavit by Det. Brian Shrader with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department.

Hazelgrove was at the home when deputies arrived. He admitted that a shooting had happened. He pointed out a purse and bag that belonged to the shooter, whom police later identified as Bustle.

She was not at the home when police arrived; she was found later that day at a home on Lambert Hill Lane, just off Sweetwater Trail, where she was arrested.

Deputy William Pool found Harper’s body wrapped in plastic in a bedroom in Hazelgrove’s home, near the living room where Hazelgrove’s recliner was.

In an interview with police, Hazelgrove said he did not call 911 to report the shooting because he figured he was already in trouble, according to the affidavit.

Coroner Earl Piper then confirmed that Harper died from a gunshot wound to the head. Piper said he was a shot a total of four times: three in the head and once in the back.

Hazelgrove confirmed that the shooting happened on Feb. 6.

In an interview with police, Bustle said she had driven up to Indiana late on Feb. 5/early Feb. 6, 2021. She initially said she had driven up with a friend, but could not remember his last name.

When asked who her friend was, Bustle used the word “was.” Shrader noted that using past tense to refer to Harper indicated that she knew he was dead.

Bustle was inconsistent in her interview with police and changed her story as facts were presented to her. She first told police she did not shoot Harper and that she thought he had gone missing.

She then admitted to taking and driving a white Ford Crown Victoria found at Hazelgrove’s house that had been reported stolen out of Kentucky. During that theft, firearms were also stolen, according to the affidavit. She told police her DNA would be on the plastic covering the body because she had used it earlier to cover the car due to a busted window.

During a second interview with police, Bustle admitted to shooting Harper. She said she was in the living room when the rifle in her hands went off as Harper began to get up from a chair quickly. Harper began to yell and reach for a black powder gun behind a chair, so Bustle said she shot him two more times. Bustle said she did not know where Hazelgrove was at this time, but he was not in the room.

When police later told Hazelgrove that Bustle had admitted to the shooting, he seemed relieved and started to cry, but understood he was still in trouble, according to the probable cause affidavit filed last year.

In his interview with police, Hazelgrove said he met Bustle about two years prior when she had been kicked out of a house and was homeless, so he let her stay with him for a while. He also knew her because she had dated an acquaintance of his, the affidavit states.

Bustle and Harper arrived at Hazelgrove’s home on Feb. 5. The next day Hazelgrove said he took some trash from inside the house outside to burn and heard several gunshots. When he went back inside, he found Harper dead on the floor and Bustle holding a rifle, which he described as a 9mm carbine rifle.

The description of the 9mm was similar to one of the guns that Bustle had been suspected of stealing out of Kentucky.

Hazelgrove said he was mad at Bustle for shooting Harper. When he told her he was not going to help her clean up, Bustle allegedly said he had to or she would kill him too, according to the affidavit.

Hazelgrove told police he helped wrap Harper’s body in plastic and drag it into another room from the front door area; then, he helped her clean up.

Several hours later, Bustle went outside and then disappeared from the property. Hazelgrove told police he sat in the house for two days with the body because he did not know what to do. He told two people about what had happened, the affidavit states; one of them was the person who called 911 for a welfare check.

Police then obtained a warrant to search the Ford Crown Victoria and found the rifle in the trunk wrapped in a blanket. The victim of the vehicle theft had described the same blanket to police.

In the trunk, police also found a small pair of pants with blood on them and 9mm ammunition. Shrader reported that while he was at the scene, he had noticed blood splatter on the ceiling above the front door and blood drops that had been partially wiped away near the door.

Hazelgrove was formally charged with assisting a criminal, Level 5 felony, and obstruction of justice, Level 6 felony. His jury trial is scheduled for July 27.

Bustle’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 20 at 1 p.m. A murder charge carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years and a fine up to $10,000.