Indiana man gets 65-year sentence for killing disabled friend with a screwdriver
09/19/2026 6:00 am PDT
BOONE COUNTY, Ind. (TCN) -- A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to 65 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder for killing his disabled friend last year.
On Sept. 10, 2025, Jacob Cram killed his friend, Donald Bowers, by beating him with a broomstick, asphyxiating him, and stabbing him in the head with a screwdriver. Police were notified by two witnesses, one of whom said that he saw Bowers on the floor with his head wrapped in duct tape and a screwdriver sticking out.
When Cram was taken into custody, he told police he had tried to kill Bowers in multiple ways and Bowers fought back.
Cram pleaded guilty in August in exchange for the state agreeing to drop the habitual-offender enhancement; he had been released from prison three months before killing Bowers after serving a multi-year sentence for robbery resulting in serious injury.
WXIN reports that on Sept. 17, Cram was given the maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
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