Man charged in killing of Jeffersonville woman found hidden under stairs in home

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- A man has been charged with murder weeks after the body of a 29-year-old Jeffersonville woman was found hidden under the stairwell of her home.

According to Jeffersonville Police, 33-year-old Leevi Emery is accused of killing Stevie Cornett.

Cornett went missing on July 27, and her decomposing body was found in her home on East Chestnut Street in Jeffersonville on Monday, Aug. 6. Authorities investigated the crime scene in hazmat suits.

Police say Cornett's father, who also lived in the home, found her body in a hidden compartment under the stairs after searching for the source of a bad smell. The body had sustained "sharp force trauma injuries" as well as defensive wounds to her arms and hands. The walls of the compartment Cornett was found in were lined with towels so as not to let any exposure to the rest of the home.

Later that day, Cornett's father told Emery that he had found his daughter's body. Police say Emery became agitated and left the house. Detectives say he was a person of interest from that moment.

Police believe Cornett was murdered on July 27. On that morning, Emery, went to Clark Memorial Hospital. He then came back to the house when Cornett was there. According to police, Emery then killed Cornett.

“The murder appeared to have occurred within a bedroom inside the house," Jeffersonville Police Det. Todd Hollis said at a news conference on Friday.

Authorities say he then threw away his bloody clothes and hospital ID bracelet, took her car and drove back to the hospital because of some type of mental health issue. He was kept there for several days in the behavioral health unit for spells of "psychosis," Hollis said.

Hollis said Emery admits to seeing Cornett on July 27, the last day anyone heard from her, but he denies killing her. Detectives have not found the murder weapon.

According to Jeffersonville Police, Emery was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on Aug. 12 for an unrelated charge of invasion of privacy. A probable cause affidavit states that, on Aug. 4, Emery had been seen in the company of a woman he had a no-contact order with.

Emery was served with the warrant for Cornett's murder on Friday. A habitual offender charge was also added to Emery after the prosecutors office reviewed his lengthy criminal record.

"Results from forensic examinations conducted by the Indiana State Police Laboratory confirmed fingerprint and DNA evidence collected at the scene strongly support the probable cause that Leevi Emery is responsible for the death of Stevie Cornett," Jeffersonville Police stated in a news release. "Further evidence in the case shows that Stevie Cornett was murdered inside the home on July 27, 2018."

Specifically, police say they found evidence of Cornett's blood in a room, her blood on Emery's discarded clothing and Emery's fingerprints in the blood.

"It’s just really a shame," said Stevie Cornett's sister, Danielle Cornett. "My sister was such a good person. And she would never hurt anybody. She didn’t deserve this.”

Cornett's killing was the second murder in Jeffersonville in 2018.

“We want to extend our sympathies to Cornett’s family," Hollis said. "They’ve been through a very traumatic time.”

"I’ve been praying about this day, just to help with getting a little closure," Danielle Cornett added. "It doesn’t really fix everything, but deep down, I pretty much already knew that he did it.”

Stevie Cornett told her sister she was scared of Emery, because he talked about death a lot.

“Justice will be served for my sister, and no other families are going to have to suffer worrying about him being out there still," Danielle Cornett said.

Danielle Cornett added that she knew Emery occasionally used drugs, but she doesn't know if he did on the day of the murder.

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