Plainfeld man admits to killing 77-year-old helping him ‘get back on his feet’

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A Plainfield man on Tuesday pleaded guilty but mentally ill during the second day of his trial in the murder of a 77-year-old woman in 2024 at an Indianapolis mobile home community.

Zakii Dawson will turn 21 just 10 days before his sentencing March 4 in Marion Superior Court 21. He’s expected to receive a 45-year prison sentence.

Dawson, who was 18 when arrested, was charged with killing Mary Sims. She’d let Dawson reside inside her home “to help him get back on his feet,” said a news release issued Tuesday from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The night before the murder, he was removed from the residence and told not to return after a disturbance in which he destroyed property and assaulted Sims,” the release said.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were called about 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12, 2024, to the home in the 2900 block of Landola Lane. That’s the Lake of the Pines mobile home community for people 55 and older. It’s located off South Lynhurst Drive just south of the I-70 overpass on the southwest side of Indianapolis.

Before calling police, Sims’ granddaughter had ent...