LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky man who stabbed a homeless person in Indiana could spend the rest of his life in prison for a murder of retaliation.

Keith Telesh, 50, pleaded guilty to a charge of murder and was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Tuesday.

The murder occurred in Aug. 2021. That's when detectives were sent to Walnut Street in Madison, Indiana.

Police said they discovered the body of a man named Dana Hodge in a back yard, with stab wounds to his neck.

During the investigation, police spoke to workers at a nearby business who said that the day before Hodge was found, two men were looking for him claiming he was a thief. 

Officers then spoke to Telesh's girlfriend, whose purse was stolen from her car where Telesh worked.

The prosecutor said surveillance video showed Hodge taking the purse. Prosecutors said Telesh went looking for Hodge and killed him.

After a search of his Trimble County home, detectives said they found bloody clothes, shoes and a set of kitchen knives in the trash can.

Prosecutors said Telesh admitted to hitting Hodge in the head with a baseball bat before he was stabbed.

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