The Heidi Littlefield case is the Indiana prosecution of a Sheridan woman who murdered her ex-boyfriend Francis “Fran” Kelley in January 2021 after months of trying to poison him with fentanyl during a custody dispute over their young daughter. A Hamilton County jury convicted her of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in August 2022, and she was sentenced that October to 115 years in prison. The case later drew wider attention when reporting showed that police in Ohio and Indiana had been warned about the plot roughly three months before Kelley was killed and did not act.
Who Francis Kelley Was and Why He Was Killed
Kelley, born January 17, 1975, in Cleveland, worked in public finance in Indianapolis and lived in Carmel, Indiana. He was the father of two young daughters, one of them shared with Littlefield.
The relationship deteriorated after that daughter’s birth. In March 2020, Littlefield filed a petition to establish custody, parenting time, and child support, and court records show she sought to keep Kelley from having a relationship with their child or with her older children from previous relationships. That custody fight was the motive prosecutors built the case around.
How the Murder Happened
Between October 2020 and January 2021, Littlefield conspired with her adult daughter, Logan Runyon, and Runyon’s boyfriend, Robert Walker, to kill Kelley. The plan began as a staged overdose.
In October 2020, Littlefield and Runyon laced Kelley’s takeout miso soup with fentanyl. He became ill but survived. Littlefield also paid Walker $2,500 to hire someone to kill Kelley; Walker spent the money on drugs, clothes, and hotels and did nothing.
On January 14, 2021, Littlefield and Runyon poisoned Kelley’s refrigerated oatmeal with fentanyl. The next day he ate it and texted Littlefield that it “tasted funny,” that he felt lightheaded, and that he was having trouble thinking clearly. Later that day, Littlefield and Runyon entered Kelley’s Carmel home and found him on the kitchen floor, still breathing. Runyon later testified that Littlefield used one of Kelley’s own neckties to strangle him while slamming his head against the floor.
Kelley’s body was found on his couch on January 18, 2021, after his ex-girlfriend grew concerned when he failed to pick up their nine-year-old daughter for his birthday. The autopsy, conducted January 20, gave the cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation, with contributing blunt force trauma to the head. Toxicology confirmed fentanyl in his system.
The Warnings Police Didn’t Act On
Eighty-three days before Kelley’s body was found, police in two states were told the plot was coming. On the evening of October 27, 2020, a man later identified as Littlefield’s ex-husband called the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio at 9:42 p.m. and said, “There’s a possible crime that is going to happen in Zionsville, Indiana, that could take someone’s life.” He had heard about the plot from his daughter, Logan Runyon. A deputy called him back and explained the process for a welfare check, but nothing further was done.
Forty-five minutes later, the same man called the Boone County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana. He named the potential victim as “Fran” and the suspect as “Heidi Littlefield,” described the custody dispute, and said he had “heard something that could be bad happening to the gentleman.” The dispatcher asked him to call back with Littlefield’s address. He agreed, never did, and Boone County did not follow up.
Boone County later acknowledged the calls could have been handled better. Because the call came through an administrative dial tree rather than 911, the caller’s number was not captured. Officials said the dispatcher could have run Littlefield’s name in a database, which would have surfaced the custody dispute, or contacted Zionsville police. No protocols were technically violated, and the dispatcher was not disciplined. Carmel police, whose jurisdiction actually covered Kelley’s home, were never notified at all. As of mid-2025, Boone County was still updating its dispatch policies in response.
The Co-Conspirators and Their Plea Deals
Three people were charged. Littlefield, 41 at her arrest, faced murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Runyon, 22, faced murder and conspiracy. Walker, 29, of Englewood, Ohio, faced two counts of conspiracy.
Runyon resolved her case first. In March 2022 she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in exchange for testifying against her mother and Walker; the murder charge was dropped. She was sentenced to 26 years with six years suspended, plus probation, community service, and mandatory drug and alcohol treatment. At trial she testified she had joined the plot because she wanted to “win the affection of her mother.” On cross-examination, the defense established that she was a methamphetamine addict.
Walker pleaded guilty in May 2022 to one Level 2 felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, with the more serious Level 1 count dropped. He received 10 years with 10 years suspended, followed by probation and drug treatment. His attorney cited his “limited involvement” and his cooperation after arrest. Walker told investigators the killing was the “third attempt by Heidi to kill Fran.”
Trial, Defense Theory, and Sentence
Littlefield went to trial in Hamilton Superior Court and was found guilty on August 23, 2022, of one count of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors relied on Runyon’s testimony, text messages between Kelley and Littlefield, the autopsy and other forensic evidence, and what Walker had told investigators.
Littlefield maintained her innocence. Her defense pointed at Matthew Duncan, the father of one of her other children, arguing his cell phone had been tracked near Kelley’s home on January 16, 2021, and that he had discussed killing Kelley with Runyon and Walker. The jury rejected that theory.
On October 7, 2022, Judge Michael Casati imposed an aggregate 115-year sentence: 60 years for murder, 35 years for Level 1 felony conspiracy, and 20 years for Level 2 felony conspiracy. Littlefield’s attorneys argued she had no prior criminal record and was pregnant with her sixth child at the time of the murder. Casati acknowledged the lack of record but found aggravating factors outweighed it. Two of Littlefield’s own children told the judge during sentencing that society was better off with their mother behind bars.
The Appeal
Littlefield appealed to the Court of Appeals of Indiana, raising three arguments: that the evidence was insufficient because the autopsy showed strangulation rather than fentanyl as the cause of death and Kelley was still alive when she left, leaving room for a third-party killer; that convictions for both murder and Level 1 conspiracy violated double jeopardy; and that 115 years was inappropriate given her lack of record, habitual drinking, and difficult childhood.
On July 13, 2023, a three-judge panel rejected each argument and affirmed the conviction and sentence. The court found the evidence sufficient, declined to reweigh the jury’s credibility findings, and held that conspiracy and the underlying murder are separate offenses that do not implicate double jeopardy. On the sentence, the panel wrote that the “horrendous circumstances of the crimes, along with Littlefield’s persistent pattern of trying to kill Kelley that ultimately deprived B.K. of a father, her continued manipulation of Runyon to participate in the murder plot, and the fact that she left her minor daughter in the car during the murder, do not warrant a revision of the sentence.”
No further appeals or post-conviction filings by Littlefield have been publicly reported since.