Lafayette man arrested for murder

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Lafayette man is facing a preliminary murder charge in the Lafayette's first homicide of the year. Investigators said it was a dispute about a woman that got out of hand.

Hours after the murder, police were still inside taking a closer look at the crime scene, the front room of the house in the 3100 block of Kossuth Street.

"It's nuts," said neighbor Traci Sarjent. "Just seeing it firsthand, it was just crazy."

Sarjent lives across the street from the scene and had just come inside from playing with her dogs Monday afternoon.

"We look out front and we're like, 'Oh my gosh!'" Sarjent said. "There's like 10 cop cars and guns are drawn, it was just crazy."

The 911 call of shots fired forced police to block off Kossuth Street soon after 2:15 p.m.  

Police found 32-year-old Robert Rudicle II, inside, unresponsive with a single gun shot wound in the center of his chest from a shotgun blast. 

They soon located the homeowner, 51-year-old Kevin Adams, in the back yard. At first he was called a person of interest before he was later arrested.

"He was a really 'to himself' guy," next door neighbor Lynn Livingston said. "I knew his wife better than him. She passed away a couple years ago."

Livingston said Adams was a good neighbor who she has known for more than 20 years.  

Investigators said he had a female friend over who had earlier arranged to get a ride from Rudicle.

"When the victim showed up here, Mr. Adams didn't want her to leave," said Lt. Brad Hayworth. "They got into an argument over whether or not she was going to leave and it led to Mr. Adams shooting our victim."

When Livingston heard what investigators believe happened, she said in some ways, she wasn't incredibly surprised.

"(The circumstance) doesn't surprise me," Livingston said. "It surprises me that he actually shot somebody, (but) he was kind of possessive."

Paramedics rushed Rudicle to Franciscan St. Elizabeth East Hospital where he later died. Police said there are no signs of a struggle in the house and Rudicle didn't appear to be armed. They aren't even sure if Rudicle had ever met Adams before Monday.

But for neighbors in a normally quiet Columbian Park neighborhood, the green house just west of Earl Avenue will never be seen in quite the same way again.

"It's just a sad memory really, somebody died there," Sarjent said. "It's just sad."

Lafayette police said Rudicle was a Lafayette resident but was originally from Florida.

Adams is currently in the Tippecanoe County Jail, where he's scheduled to have his first court appearance Tuesday.  

Neighbors said Adams has two adult children, including one who lives at the Kossuth address and is mentally handicapped.