Woman pleads guilty in deaths of two men

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

A woman who killed two men at a house on McKinley Street just over a year ago has pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence and agreed to spend 15 years in prison.

Karenda A. Hutsenpiller, 22, of Fifth Street Southwest, shot to death Rahman War-field, 34, of 1123 McKinley St. NE, and Steven S. Faison, 24, of Duke Avenue Southeast, May 9 at Warfield’s house after Hutsenpiller went there to buy drugs, said Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.

Hutsenpiller was indicted last May on two counts of murder, which carried a potential prison sentence of 15 years to life on each count.

Hutsenpiller appeared in court Thursday to plead guilty to the lesser charges, including a specification that she used a gun in her crimes. Judge John M. Stuard will sentence her May 19.

Becker said prosecutors agreed to the lesser charges because there were no eyewitnesses to the killings and “very little” forensic evidence available at the crime scene. The gun Hutsenpiller used was never recovered.

“It’s a fair result,” Becker said after the hearing.

Erin Nadaud of Warren, however, mother of Warfield’s son, came to court with several other family members of the victims. Nadaud said she wasn’t satisfied with the sentence. “I wanted to see more than 15 years,” she said.

Police said Warfield and Faison were found shot to death at 19 minutes after midnight. Police arrested Hutsenpiller at her home at 5:40 a.m. that morning after learning that Hutsenpiller “had knowledge of the homicide,” Sgt. Jeff Cole of the Warren Police Department said.

Neighbors gave a description of a vehicle leaving the area.

A neighbor of Warfield’s said one of the dead men was found on the porch, and the other was inside the house. Another neighbor said two gunshots were audible from their house up the street about the time of the killings. The neighborhood is just south of Warren G. Harding High School.

Hutsenpiller also is under indictment in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor establishment in August 2009.

Warfield and Faison each had lengthy criminal records, including drug convictions.