A man who pleaded guilty to his role in the home invasion killing of a Carlsbad resident who was stabbed nearly 150 times was sentenced Friday to almost three decades in prison.
Ian Forrester Bushee, 40, was arrested along with co-defendant Malissa James for the March 11, 2019, stabbing death of 62-year-old Marjorie Gawitt.
The defendants, both of whom officials identified as transients, broke into Gawitt's home on Outrigger Lane while she was sleeping at around 12:30 a.m., police said.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Preliminary hearing testimony indicated Gawitt was stabbed or slashed 147 times, with prosecutors alleging James was the one who committed the stabbing. A deputy district attorney said the victim was stabbed on her face, neck, and back. Gawitt was able to cling on to life long enough to call 911 to report she had been attacked in her home. Gawitt was rushed to a local hospital where she died within an hour, police said.
After stabbing the victim, the pair stole Gawitt's car and fled the scene, investigators said. Hours later, investigators found Gawitt’s stolen car abandoned near a business on Grand Avenue in San Marcos, about 10 miles east of her home. The interior of the car had blood throughout, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said. Carlsbad police soon confirmed the car belonged to the victim.
Shortly before noon that day, the defendants were arrested near Agua Hedionda Lagoon in an open, brushy area off the 4800 block of Park Drive, less than a mile from the victim's home.
Local
James, 30, previously faced the death penalty, but pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bushee was set to go to trial this year prior to his pleas to voluntary manslaughter and first-degree residential burglary counts.
The prosecutor said both Bushee and James have prior convictions out of San Bernardino, California, where they were both convicted in 2018 of a residential burglary. In that case, they were also co-defendants, Rooney said.
He was sentenced Friday to 29 years and eight months in prison.
