A 37-year-old Kentucky woman was recently sentenced to serve over 50 years in prison after she pled guilty to murdering a man in Brown County last year.
Alicia Bustle entered the guilty plea during a May 10 hearing, just two weeks before a jury trial was originally scheduled to start, according to online court records.
Bustle attended the June 20 sentence hearing in person with her public defender Jacob Moore. Police and the victim’s brother testified at the hearing about Bustle’s criminal history in Kentucky before Judge Mary Wertz handed down a sentence.
A murder charge carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years and a fine up to $10,000. After entering a plea deal, Bustle’s maximum sentence was capped at 55 years without the opportunity for parole.
She was formally charged with murder on Feb. 11, 2021 — just three days after 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, but that he had met Bustle before.
The body was discovered after Hazelgrove’s relative requested a welfare check for him after he reportedly told that relative a woman had shot a man in his home, 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 and was found later that day at a home on Lambert Hill Lane where she was arrested.
Deputy William Pool found Harper’s body wrapped in plastic in a bedroom in Hazelgrove’s home. 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.
What happened
In an interview with police, Hazelgrove confirmed that the shooting happened on Feb. 6. He said he did not call 911 to report the shooting because he thought he was already in trouble, according to the affidavit.
During sentencing, Shrader testified that Bustle later told police Harper had sexually assaulted her.
According to Shrader, Hazelgrove did not mention if Bustle had said she had been raped at any point. Hazelgrove did tell police that Bustle and Harper had argued in the days leading up to the murder. The day before the murder, Hazelgrove told police that Bustle hit Harper with a chain.
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 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 a Ford Crown Victoria, which Bustle later admitted she had stolen in Kentucky, and found the rifle in the trunk wrapped in a blanket. The victim of the vehicle theft had described the same blanket to police.
During that theft, firearms were also stolen, according to the affidavit.
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.
In an interview with police following her arrest, Bustle said she had driven up to Indiana late on Feb. 5 and 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 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, saying 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.
Bustle was under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder, she told police.
‘I’m truly sorry’
At the sentencing, Shrader testified that Bustle’s story changed multiple times throughout the interview process, including her alleging Harper raped her and that she shot him in self-defense.
She also told police Harper threatened her children, who were not present, Shrader said at the sentencing hearing.
Harper’s brother took the stand and addressed Bustle at the hearing last week. Other members of Harper’s family were also in the courtroom.
“He did not deserve to be treated that way,” he said. He told Bustle that in committing the act against Harper, she had “sold her soul to the Devil.”
“We wanted to bring you a Bible and hope that you’d find God deep in your soul,” he said.
He told Bustle that he and his family hope and pray that no one else has to be in their position because of Bustle.
“You sit here and make him out to be a rapist, he wasn’t,” he said to Bustle. “He was an addict.”
The brother said the state of Kentucky had failed his family by not convicting and incarcerating Bustle for previous crimes there. He requested the judge sentence Bustle to the maximum sentence without a chance for parole.
“She took a father, nephew, son. She took a brother,” he said.
“Don’t give her the chance to get out and do this again. If Kentucky had done their job I wouldn’t be here today.”
During the hearing, Bustle spoke and apologized for what she had done.
“Today I want to address my family, the court and God,” she said. “I know there aren’t any words to make situation any better. I’m so sorry I caused all this to happen and I know I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I’m truly sorry.”
Bustle said that the worst part was that her three kids will be without a mother while she is incarcerated.
In his closing statement, Moore said that the length of time Bustle would serve in prison is “extraordinary.”
The earliest release — factoring in time served and days earned for good behavior — Bustle would be 67 years old.
“It’s impossible to know how she’ll change in those 30 years,” Moore said.
“We know she’ll be in prison, she’s not going to have access to meth or to guns. … In 2052 or 2060, my guess is we’re going to be dealing with a whole different person.”
Moore said that often when people think of murder they think of premeditation, but that everything about Bustle’s situation suggests it was a sudden action with not much thought beforehand.
“You shouldn’t do meth, shouldn’t take an impromptu road trip with a stranger and, under the influence, shoot guns. Unfortunate decisions were made to put her in that decision,” he said.
Moore requested Bustle be sentenced to 45 years with an opportunity for release after 30 years served. Adams asked the judge to give Bustle the max sentence, noting her criminal history — including nine misdemeanors and three felony charges — and the fact she was on probation for a felony charge at the time of the murder.
“Someone needs to stick up for Harper being murdered,” Adams said.
Adams continued that Bustle was “playing wheel of defenses” when she claimed she had mental health issues and that the shooting was self-defense because she had been raped and her children were threatened.
“Defense talked about her being branded as murderer — she’ll be branded justly as a murderer,” he said. “Her criminal history is shocking, enough to get to 55 years on its own.”
After reviewing evidence and hearing testimony, Wertz addressed the court and accepted the terms of the plea agreement, capping the sentence at a maximum of 55 years.
Wertz said that she found that Bustle had a solid history of violating probation and parole. She said Bustle had been offered multiple opportunities for substance abuse recovery, which Bustle denied then continued to re-offend.
Wertz said Bustle was offered many opportunities in the initial interrogations to admit she killed Harper in self-defense, but every time she was asked she denied it.
“’He didn’t do anything wrong,’ you said. I’m at a loss to determine what exactly happened,” Wertz said.
Bustle was given credit for 497 days already served. She had been jail since her arrest last year. Bustle has 35 days to file an appeal.
