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CELINA - A Marion, Indiana, woman on Thursday afternoon pleaded guilty in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to one count of aggravated murder as part of a negotiated plea agreement that spares her the death penalty.
Sarah Buzzard, 30, agreed to be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years. Sentencing is set for 1 p.m. Jan. 20, 2022, in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
As part of the plea deal, Buzzard pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder. A second aggravated murder charge and 16 other felony counts were dismissed.
Sarah Buzzard signs a negotiated plea agreement Thursday while her attorney, Randy LaMarr Jr., watches.
Buzzard had been charged with killing and dismembering Ryan Zimmerman, 21, of Columbus whose skeletal remains were found by a woman walking her dog on Jan. 23, 2016, east of U.S. 127 at the mouth of Coldwater Creek.
Buzzard originally had been charged with 18 felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, unclassified felonies that each carried death penalty specifications - murder to escape specifications and felony murder specifications.
The specifications indicate Buzzard committed the offense to escape punishment for committing another offense, namely kidnapping, abduction or felonious assault. They also indicate that even if Buzzard was not the principal offender of the murder, she committed the act with prior calculation and design.
Numerous actions took place during Buzzard's pretrial Thursday.
First, judge Jeffrey Ingraham approved county prosecuting attorney Matthew Fox's request to dismiss the death penalty specifications on the two counts of aggravated murder.
Buzzard's assigned attorneys - William F. Kluge and Robert Grzybowski - requested to be withdrawn as counsel. They had been brought on because they are certified to handle death sentence cases for indigent defendants. Ingraham approved their motion, leaving Buzzard with her retained defense team of St. Marys attorneys Eric Wilson and Randy LaMarr Jr.
Later in the day, the pretrial continued with Buzzard pleading guilty to a single count of aggravated murder as part of the plea deal between prosectors and defense.
Buzzard's parents were in the courtroom on Thursday. Zimmerman's family watched the proceedings virtually.
Fox on Thursday afternoon read aloud a stipulation of facts regarding Buzzard's guilty plea.
"Your Honor, the information contained in the written stipulation of facts is correct based on the evidence and discovery that was presented by the state to our defense team," LaMarr said.
Investigators on June 1, 2020, learned partial skeletal remains found locally on Jan. 23, 2016, were Zimmerman's, Fox said. Zimmerman had been reported missing from the Columbus area in November 2015. He had previously lived in Kentucky and Mississippi.
Fox said investigators learned Zimmerman had several social media accounts he had used to communicate with third parties. They determined he was exploring his sexuality and sexual preferences and had been using Craigslist to seek like-minded individuals to experiment with his sexuality, according to Fox.
Some time before April 2015, Zimmerman reportedly posted to Craigslist that he was interested in gaining sexual partners. Zimmerman and a subject identifying as Laurel Emerson began engaging in email conversations and a chat conversation on Google Hangouts, Fox said. Investigators determined that Emerson was Sarah Buzzard's husband at the time.
Zimmerman also began engaging in email conversations with Sarah E. Buzzard, according to Fox. Sarah Buzzard and her husband were originally from the Marion, Indiana, area and in 2015 were living together at Skyview Townhomes in Columbus, Fox said.
The husband encouraged Zimmerman to move to Columbus to live with him and Sarah Buzzard and engage in an intimate relationship with him, Fox continued.
Investigators also discovered that beginning in July 2015, Naira "Jenn" Whitaker moved in with the Buzzards and was engaging in an intimate relationship with Sarah Buzzard, according to Fox. Whitaker continued to live with the Buzzards at the apartment through Sept. 27, 2015, and for a period of time thereafter, Fox said.
On or about Aug. 6, 2015, Zimmerman moved from Corbin, Kentucky, to Columbus to live with the Buzzards in their apartment, Fox said.
Fox said Sarah Buzzard's husband and a person from Athens checked into the Hyatt Regency Hotel on High Street in Columbus on Sept. 25, 2015, and checked out Sept. 27, 2015. Zimmerman's homicide occurred the weekend of Sept. 25, 2015, when Sarah Buzzard's husband was in downtown Columbus with the person from Athens, according to Fox.
A review of locations services associated with the husband's Gmail account show that an electronic device using the husband's google account returned to the area of Buzzards' apartment at 3:40 p.m. Sept. 27, 2015, Fox said. At 1:09 a.m. Sept. 27, 2015, Sarah Buzzard's Gmail account was used to search "jugular," Fox said.
Fox said the investigation determined that Sarah Buzzard and her husband on Nov. 13, 2015, filed for dissolution of their marriage in Franklin County. On Jan. 14, 2016, the Buzzards' dissolution was finalized and their marriage was terminated, according to Fox. On Jan. 26, Sarah Buzzard and Whitaker were married, Fox said.
As of August 2021, Sarah Buzzard and Whitaker lived in Marion, Indiana, according to Fox. On Aug. 25, 2021, law enforcement officers arrested Sarah Buzzard on four counts of tampering with evidence, one count of grand theft of a motor vehicle, one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of gross abuse of a corpse, Fox said.
Investigators later returned to the residence and attempted to arrest Whitaker. Before officers could arrest Whitaker, she died of a self-inflicted gunshot would, Fox said.
While being interviewed by officers, Sarah Buzzard confessed to strangling Zimmerman to death in the apartment where she had lived with her then-husband in Columbus, Fox said.
Sarah Buzzard reportedly told law enforcement officers that Whitaker assisted her in dismembering Zimmerman's body, cleaning up the scene, destroying evidence of the homicide and disposing of Zimmerman's body, Fox said.
During the interview, Buzzard claimed Zimmerman's death was an accident, Fox said. She stated that Zimmerman had ruined her life and that she and her husband had numerous arguments about Zimmerman, according to Fox.
Fox said Sarah Buzzard indicated she was angry and when Zimmerman came out of the bathroom, she knocked him down and then choked him. She further said she put Zimmerman in a chokehold, according to Fox. Buzzard explained that Zimmerman passed out, that she did not let go and that then it was too late, Fox said.
Sarah Buzzard stated that using her 2007 Toyota Corolla, Whitaker and she disposed of Zimmerman's items in various locations and placed several of Zimmerman's body parts in various locations, including public dumpsters at several gas stations, Fox said.
They then left the Columbus area and headed to Illinois, but became tired and stopped in Mercer County where they disposed of the majority of Zimmerman's body in a wooded area, Fox said. They then returned to Columbus.
