Former Papa John’s Employee Sentenced To 65 Years For Murdering Two Ex-Coworkers and Attempting to Have Sex With Corpse

A former Papa John’s employee who killed two of his ex-coworkers and attempted to have sex with one of their bodies was sentenced to 65 years.

Jose Benitez-Tilley, 20, fatally shot his two former coworkers, Haley Smith, 22, and Dustin Carr, 37, during their night shift earlier this year.

Last month, Benitez-Tilley took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder. In exchange, his two sentences would run concurrent and prosecutors would drop one count of abuse of a corpse.

On February 13, Elkhart Police Department responded to a 911 call at a Papa John’s in the 1500 street of Cassopolis Street.

The 911 caller was an employee who opened the restaurant the day after the murders and found Smith and Carr behind the building deceased.

Investigators would quickly name the suspect in their killings.

The day before the killings, Benitez-Tilly showed up at the restaurant, wanting to get a job there again. Management turned him down due to unspecified issues from when he worked there before.

Benitez-Tilly came back the next day with a handgun and shot and killed his two former coworkers that were working.

Benitez-Tilly admitted to the killings and also told investigators that he tried to have sex with Smith after she died. He went on to confess that he attempted to dispose of their bodies but wasn’t capable of moving them.

In addition to that confession, he also admitted to stealing money and jewels from the victims’ bodies, as well as cash from the Papa John’s office.

He was arrested and charged shortly after the incident.

Benitez-Tilly was handed down a 65-year-sentence, the maximum sentence for murder without aggravating factors in the state of Indiana.