A Valparaiso man and convicted sexual offender has been charged with murder after police said that he struck his girlfriend on Wednesday, fatally injuring her.

John M. Norris, 48, of 7 Weston St., Apt. 2m was being held without bond today at the Porter County Jail. Murder is punishable by a term of 30 to 60 years.

Valparaiso Police identified the victim as Elizabeth A. Lepucki and said that she died at 9:37 p.m. Thursday at the University of Chicago Hospital of blunt force trauma to the head and skull, resulting in swelling to the brain.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Det. John Ross of the VPD, at 6:38 a.m. on Thursday an officer was dispatched to Norris and Lepucki’s residence in response to a report of an unconscious female. On his arrival, police said, the officer made contact with Norris, who advised that Lepucki had been out the previous night with friends, had reeked of alcohol when returning home, had initiated sex with him, and then gone to sleep. When he woke in the morning, Norris advised, he found Lepucki unconscious and called 911.

Lepucki was transported to Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus, police said, and on further investigation the responding officer determined that Norris had called Lepucki’s employer at 5:50 a.m. and informed her that Lepucki had been in a car accident on Wednesday, that she had been released from the hospital, and that he had found her unconscious in the morning.

Ross stated in his affidavit that Lepucki tested negative for alcohol and drugs but that, in addition to swelling on the left side of the face, bruises and abrasions on her neck, and bruises on her legs and arms, she was suffering from “significant swelling of the brain and was comatose.” Lepucki was subsequently airlifted to the University of Chicago Hospital.

When interviewed, Ross stated in his affidavit, Norris continued to maintain that he did not know how Lepucki was injured but admitted lying to Lepucki’s employer about her being in a car accident.

When Ross informed Norris, however, that Lepucki was not expected to survive, Norris became to sob and finally advised that he was responsible. “Norris stated, ‘I did it’ and ‘I killed her,’” Ross stated.

Norris then gave this account of the events, Ross stated: on Wednesday afternoon he met a man named Isaac at the Family Express who needed to use the phone; he invited Isaac to their apartment, where Isaac began flirting with Lepucki; he told Isaac to leave, then confronted Lepucki and slapped her twice; the second time she spun around, fell down, and hit her head on the dresser and the wall in the bedroom.

Ross stated several items of evidentiary value were recovered from the apartment, including torn and bloody bedclothes which had been concealed, what appeared to be blood on the bed and walls of the bedroom, a portion of the bedroom wall where the drywall had been broken and hidden by a bag, and a large clump of apparently human hair in the kitchen trashcan.

In July 2002 Norris was convicted of sexual battery and is listed on the Lake County Registry of Convicted Sexual Offenders.

Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa has set trial for Oct. 27.

Posted 6/23/2008