Former Gary man’s appeal denied in 2015 death of pregnant Cal College student

The Indiana State Court of Appeals denied Derron Fuller’s appeal on Thursday – nearly a decade after Rochelle Stubblefield disappeared during a meeting with him on the playground of a Gary elementary school near his home.

Stubblefield, 20, a student and track athlete at Calumet College, was 35 weeks pregnant with his child when she disappeared on Nov. 10, 2015. Her body was never found.

She planned to name her son Amir.

Fuller, now 29, formerly of Fort Knox, Kentucky, during his Army service but originally from Gary, was sentenced to 94 years in prison in May 2023 for two counts of murder and one count of obstruction of justice.

In a 3-0 decision, Appeals Judge Cale Bradford rejected Fuller’s attempts to dismantle the evidence used against him in the trial.

On appeal, Fuller argued that his rights had been violated by several pieces of evidence that were admitted, that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the case, and that he had challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, that is, that the trial had proceeded despite a circumstantial evidence trial.

He also argued that he was denied a fair trial during the trial. In particular, he argued that detectives lost the cousin’s seized cell phone during the course of the case and that the cousin’s police interview was falsified, preventing his lawyer from challenging the witness’ credibility. In addition, investigators were never able to retrieve information from the device.

Bradford wrote that there was sufficient evidence to point to Fuller’s guilt.

According to court documents, Stubblefield texted her mother around 5 p.m. that day to say she planned to meet with Fuller.

Fuller’s new girlfriend saw him throw some of Stubblefield’s belongings out the car window as they drove, including a laptop and an ID. The cousin testified in court that he and Fuller once joked about whether Fuller would kill Stubblefield because she was pregnant. In retrospect, he resented that. Fuller also hid in his new girlfriend’s basement before being arrested days later.

There is evidence that Stubblefield is dead and her child was never born, Bradford said. Her driver’s license was not renewed, her Social Security number was not used, there are no matches for her DNA in a national missing persons database and she never left the country, Bradford wrote in the 21-page report.

Many of the errors Fuller ultimately cited were “harmless” to his defense in court, he wrote.

After Stubblefield and Fuller met outside Williams Elementary School that evening, they began arguing, and Fuller later told the cousin that he tried to stab her in the temple, strangled her to death, and dragged her body into the surrounding woods.

Investigators later found her broken glasses – which they said indicated a struggle -, her inhaler and her shoes next to the school.

Police cadaver dogs searched wooded areas around Williams Elementary School in Gary (1320 E 19th Ave.) and discovered human remains during several searches, but were unable to locate the body. Stubblefield’s car was moved to the other side of the street.

Fuller’s request for a retrial was denied in November.

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