Freddie Love Pleads Guilty to Murder
On the eve of jury selection in the murder trial of Jeffersonville resident Freddie B. Love, the defendant pled guilty to murdering victim Christopher Trowell, formerly of Louisville. Trowell was 48 at the time of his death.
In a plea agreement reached Monday, Love, 45, accepted the 55-year sentence recommendation offered by the State, which is the advisory sentence, within a range of 45 to 65 years, for murder according to Indiana sentencing guidelines.
Love and Trowell were coworkers at the Pillsbury Plant in New Albany, where Love shot and killed Trowell following the overnight shift change on the morning of August 5, 2009. Multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation and apprehension of Love, who was found on foot and arrested minutes after the shooting occurred.
“Chief Deputy Prosecutor Steve Owen and Lead Detective Stephen Bush of the New Albany Police Department did an outstanding job investigating and preparing this case for trial,” said Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson.
“This plea brings justice on behalf of the victim and the community,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Timothy Gray represented the State during the late afternoon plea agreement hearing on Monday. As part of the agreement, one count of Criminal Recklessness as a Class D felony will be dismissed.
The charge of criminal recklessness originated from an earlier incident immediately preceding the shooting at Pillsbury. In that incident, Love is alleged to have fired several rounds into a home on Navajo Drive that belonged to the fiancé of Trowell, a woman who had been in a romantic relationship with Love in years prior to the beginning of her relationship with the victim.
The Indiana State Police and the Floyd County Police Department assisted New Albany Police in the investigation. Love is currently incarcerated in the Floyd County Jail pending a formal sentencing hearing scheduled Friday, March 23 at 1:30pm in Floyd Superior Court 1.
