In the early hours of March 9, 2009, the life of 30-year-old Heather M. Rush, a female, came to a tragic and violent end in a rural home in Montgomery County, Indiana. Heather had recently moved into the New Richmond residence of her ex-boyfriend, Scott Malott, with whom she shared two children. The situation took a fatal turn when Malott discovered Heather in a bedroom with another man, Roger Lyman.
Enraged by what he saw, Malott held both Heather and Lyman at gunpoint in the bedroom
for several hours. As the terrifying ordeal seemed to be de-escalating and Heather was preparing to leave, Malott opened fire. He first shot Heather in the abdomen, then again in the shoulder, and finally, delivered a fatal shot to the back of her head. While this was happening, Malott's children with Heather were asleep in a nearby room. Lyman managed to escape through a bathroom window and call for help.
Law enforcement arrived at the home located at 3749 West 1200 North, where they found Heather deceased on the bedroom floor. The following day, Scott Malott was arrested and subsequently charged with murder and two counts of criminal confinement. During his trial in 2010, his defense attorneys argued that he had 'snapped' in a fit of rage, hoping for a conviction on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
The jury, however, rejected this argument and found Scott Malott guilty of murder and one count of criminal confinement. He was sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison for the murder of Heather M. Rush. An appeal of his conviction and sentence in 2011 was unsuccessful, with the Indiana Court of Appeals affirming the initial ruling.
