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Last updated on Friday, December 19, 2014
(SEYMOUR) - A Seymour man was sentenced to 70 years for killing his ex-wife.
A Jennings County judge sentenced 64-year-old James "Darrell" Sowder for killing his ex-wife Candice Sowder and seriously wounding her then 42-year-old daughter Regina Johnson.
Court documents say that Darrell and Candice had argued frequently since their divorce several years earlier.
On the day of the shooting, Regina and her boyfriend John Charles went to bed about 7:30 p.m. after spending the
day swimming.
As they slept, Candice Sowder drove her grandson, 24-year-old Joshua Johnson, and four others to visit one of her
friends in Hayden.
While the others were gone, Charles was awakened shortly before 9 p.m. by the sound of Darrell Sowder in the
bedroom hitting Regina Johnson repeatedly in the head.
Johnson was yelling at her former stepfather to get out when Charles grabbed a lamp and swung it at Sowder. After a struggle, Charles ordered Sowder to leave as Regina grabbed the phone to call police.
After Sowder left, Charles and Regina Johnson locked their bedroom door and tried to barricade themselves inside with a TV stand and their own bodies.
Sowder left the house just as his ex-wife and her five passengers returned. According to witnesses, Candice Sowder saw her ex-husband's vehicle in the driveway as she pulled up and saw him walking out of the house. Candice Sowder told her grandson to get out of the vehicle and tell Darrell Sowder to leave the property. After Joshua Johnson and Candice Sowder got out of their vehicle, Johnson saw his grandmother walk up on the porch to confront her former husband.
At least two witnesses heard Darrell Sowder say "It's all over now" as he walked from the house to his SUV, grabbed a revolver and waved it in the air as he returned to the porch.
According to Joshua Johnson, Sowder grabbed his ex-wife by the back of the neck. She reportedly called her ex-husband an obscene name before Sowder shot her at point blank range, witnesses said.
Police said the bullet went straight through the victim's head and lodged in the side of the house.
As most of the witnesses scattered for cover, one of Joshua Johnson's friends helped him call 911 on her cellphone.
As he was talking to the emergency dispatcher, Sowder walked back into the house.
Inside, Charles and Regina Johnson heard the gunshot. As Charles was talking to an emergency dispatcher while blocking the bedroom door, he said he heard Sowder yelling, "I'm taking care of this ... once and for all. It's done tonight. We're ending it right here. Everybody is ... dead."
Darrell Sowder then tried to ram the door open as Charles urged police to hurry to the scene.
"I've got it cocked," he heard Sowder say from the other side of the door. "I'll shoot through this ... door, and I'll shoot
you, too, John." The door shattered after it was struck about five times. The buckled wood separated the couple, and
Regina Johnson found herself between the bed and a wall.
Charles told police that he was trying to grab Sowder when Johnson was shot in the head.
After she collapsed, Charles said he saw the blood and thought she was already dead. He said he focused his
attention on his girlfriend, no longer caring what might happen to him.
Within a minute after Johnson was shot, emergency personnel arrived. Sowder told Charles he'd be back and that the police couldn't get him. Sowder then fled the house.
Sowder was apprehended as he tried to drive away on a nearby street.
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