'Purge' Killer Pleads Guilty To 3 Murders

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — By pleading guilty to three murders at a hearing Friday morning, a 20-year-old Indiana man has avoided a possible death penalty sentence. Johnathan Cruz, now 20, admitted to killing three men at random during a four-day crime spree last year. Prosecutors said he was inspired by the 2013 horror movie "The Purge," about an authoritarian dystopia with an annual night of violence with impunity.

Billy Boyd, 54, Jay Higginbotham, 40, and Jose Alberto Ruiz, 44, were shot and killed by Cruz on May 12 and May 15, 2016. Cruz was arrested on May 16 for a separate crime, illegally imprisoning a girl in a Wendy's restaurant, as well as in her home and car. He was charged with kidnapping, criminal confinement, intimidation and battery for that incident and soon implicated in the string of murders.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, who has said Cruz killed the three men "for sport," Friday described the murders as brazen and random. He said there was no indication Cruz had intending to end his violent crime spree.

"On the contrary, he was pretty much bragging about it based on statements to witnesses and what was found on his cellphone," he said, according to the AP.

Cruz sent messages about the murders to his friends and mother during his spree, court documents said.

He sent texts to a girlfriend telling her to "watch da videos of me shooting people,” on Facebook.

"I Purge every night now. Since im dieing someone else Has to. Alot of people f-- dat," he wrote, according to court documents.

When his mother asked what he was doing, Cruz sent her a link to news coverage of one of the murders. Another witness told detectives Cruz said he was "purging," apparently in reference to the movie.

"Delete those after u read it," he wrote.

"Do u know they can still pull up deleted history," responded his mother.

"Yep Ima get a new phone soon say mine was stolen," he wrote back.

After an initial court appearance, Cruz's girlfriend, Angela Barger, defended him.

"He's not evil...He's fun. Not violent," she said, according to WRTV.

Homicide detectives found dozens of videos and photos of Cruz posing with gang signs and showing off guns, drugs and cash, the Indianapolis Star reported.

He posted many such photos on Facebook, although after his arrest he asked a friend to "switch everything around," "change my profile picture to me and my kid" and run his page while he was incarcerated, detectives testified.

Cruz accepted a plea agreement and will receive three life sentences to be served consecutively without parole at an official sentencing on May 11, according to Marion County court records reviewed by the AP.

Two other defendants still face charges related to their alleged involvement in parts of the crime spree. Alleged getaway driver Elijiah Brooks is accused of participating in the murders of Boyd and Higginbotham. He has been charged with two counts of murder.

Steven Clark (also known as Rayvaugh Wood) has been charged with armed robbery and is accused of being involved in Cruz's crimes on May 14, 2016.

» Read more: Complete charges against Johnathan Cruz (pdf)

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Top photo | Johnathan Cruz | Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department