An Indiana man accused of killing and attempting to dismember a woman in late July allegedly stabbed her 51 times after discovering text messages indicating she was seeing another man, according to court records.
According to prosecutors in Indianapolis, Indiana, Marcus Garvin, 33, was charged with murder after he was allegedly caught on surveillance video dragging his girlfriend, 30-year-old Christie Holt's, decomposing body to a wooded area near a motel.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 30, 2021, Indianapolis police received a call at approximately 5 a.m. regarding a "suspicious person" dragging a sheet "with something heavy" toward the wooded area before returning to a room at the motel. The male was allegedly, "kept looking back to see if anyone was watching," according to court documents.
Motel workers told police that Garvin and Holt were long-term guests and had stayed at the motel since October 2021.
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Security footage from the motel reportedly showed Garvin dragging "a heavy white sheet" from a motel room. The 33-year-old appeared to struggle dragging the sheet, investigators say, and, at one point, "a human arm fell out of the sheet."
At 5:30 a.m., investigators found Holt's decomposing body "wrapped in a comforter laying in the creek near the tree line to the east of the motel."
Witnesses told investigators Holt had previously said Garvin was abusive, reportedly telling them that he had choked her and that she was afraid to leave him. The affidavit noted that when workers told her that they would call authorities, she said that he was just verbally abusive-despite having regular bruising on her and hand prints on her neck.
At approximately 8:55 a.m., authorities found Garvin — fully dressed and wearing a backpack — in the bathroom of his motel room and took him into custody.
The room smelled of human decomposition, court documents said. Police allegedly found a red dolly by the front door, a grocery cart, a trash can, a cut-off GPS monitoring device on the floor, and no bedding on the bed.
The floor was sticky, and two knives were on the floor by the bathtub.
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In an interview with homicide detectives, Garvin initially denied involvement with his girlfriend's death. He told detectives he and Holt argued when she got off work on Friday, July 23, 2021.
He told investigators he went through Holt's cellphone while she was sleeping and learned she was seeing another man, with whom she was "making fun of him by not having a job and/or going anywhere in life," according to the affidavit.
Garvin said he woke Holt up, "grabbed a small knife and stabbed the side of her neck two times," according to investigators. Holt attempted to defend herself, but Garvin reportedly "stabbed her numerous times in the neck, upper body and possibly the left leg."
He attempted to dismember Holt but was unable to cut through the bones. He eventually decided to dump her dismembered body near the motel.
Garvin eventually admitted to stabbing and killing Holt, reportedly saying that he was sorry but that "she deserved it," according to the affidavit. He said he missed her and still loved her, but he just felt "like he had no other option."
Holt's autopsy revealed she was stabbed 51 times — in the head, torso, thighs, hands and "all the way around her neck." On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, Garvin was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Garvin was required to wear a GPS tracking device following a Dec. 26, 2020, arrest for battery by means of a deadly weapon, authorities said.
He allegedly stabbed a customer who was taking too long in a restroom at a Circle K where he worked as a cashier, according to FOX59.
After the stabbing in 2020, Garvin reportedly returned to the cash register, threw the knife onto the counter, and said, "D---, that was satisfying," the affidavit said.
