Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Pleas of not guilty were entered this morning on behalf of the Ligonier man accused of murdering Crystal Gayle Homister and then burning her body.
Christoval Dimas, 25, was indicted last week by a grand jury. Charges of murder, a Class A felony; assisting a criminal, a Class C felony; and abuse of a corpse, a Class D felony, were subsequently filed against Dimas in Kosciusko Circuit Court. The grand jury met for seven days between July 18 and Sept. 12.
Homister's remains were found by mushroom hunters April 6 in a wooded area off CR 1050N on the east side of Lake Wawasee. The burned skeleton was identified as Homister's April 9 through dental records. Homister, 22, was reported missing in Elkhart County on Jan. 7 by family members.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said 85 to 90 percent of Homister's remains were recovered at the scene.
Authorities said that Homister's death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
Dimas also faces charges in connection with this case in Noble County, where he has been incarcerated since May. In Noble County, Dimas allegedly threatened a law enforcement officer and a citizen in an attempt to impede the progress of the murder investigation.
Although Kosciusko County Prosecutor Charles Waggoner would not comment on whether Dimas is the sole suspect in this case, he said in a press conference last week that "the grand jury has not indicted any additional suspects at this time."
Dimas was a suspect in the case since April 24, according to Tom Brindle, a retired detective sergeant with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department who led the Homister investigation. Brindle received a telephone call from a Ligonier resident who alleged that Dimas was bragging about killing Homister.
Officials said that one of Homister's three children was fathered by Dimas' brother, Jesse Dimas. A motive for the crime has not been revealed by authorities.
Steve Hearn of Lemon, Armey, Hearn & Leininger law offices is Dimas' court-appointed attorney.
Dimas is formerly of Warsaw, where he attended high school, and has also lived in Milford, Nappanee, Elkhart and Ligonier, officials said.
If convicted of the charges, Dimas faces a maximum of 55 years on the murder charge with no more than 10 years added for aggravating circumstances or 10 years subtracted for mitigating circumstances, and fines up to $10,000. He could receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole depending on circumstances of the case. He also faces two to eight years in prison on the assisting a criminal charge and fines up to $10,000 ,and a maximum of three years in prison on the abuse of a corpse charge and fines up to $10,000.
His bond was set at $500,000. A preliminary pretrial conference was set for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 6, subject to counsel availability, and an omnibus hearing was set for Nov. 17.
