For six of the 12 years Malik Bunch and his wife were married, he said that they were in an open relationship and “No one died.”
Bunch told the parents of Jéla Cooper, his estranged wife’s girlfriend, Thursday morning that he was sorry for “what happened to their daughter,” but “it wasn’t as it seems” before Lake Superior Court Judge Gina Jones stopped him from potentially jeopardizing his plea deal. Jones sentenced Bunch, 29, to 30 years in prison, with 28 years to be spent in the Department of Correction and two years in the Kimbrough Center, as part of the deal he agreed to in June.
Bunch pleaded guilty to burglary resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 1 felony. Prosecutors chose to put the case before a grand jury to charge it, an atypical move for county court, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
Bunch’s parents, Eddie Bunch Sr. and Tamara Bunch, described their son as a hard-working, devoted father who raised his stepchildren as his own. Both said they were surprised they were sitting in court watching their son getting sentenced.
When Lake County Supervising Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkewicz asked Tamara Bunch if she knew her son agreed and signed under oath that he’d strangled Jéla Cooper to death, she said her understanding of the plea deal was that it was about the burglary.
“No, Ma’am. He admits to strangling her and that he staged it to make it look like she was drunk afterward,” Jatkewicz said. “(Malik Bunch) admitted taking Jela’s cell phone and that there are records of him using it.”
Cooper’s father Bobby Sanders during his victim impact statement said he never thought he would be before a court talking about his daughter and that he was “trying to keep it respectful” but it was all he could do to keep his anger inside. He said the sentence still gives Malik Bunch the chance to have a life when he gets out.
“He’ll get out when he’s 50, my age, and he’ll have the same opportunities that I have,” Sanders said. “I know God got the last word, and I know what I want to do ain’t right.”
Tamia Burnett, Cooper’s mother, said she couldn’t believe Malik Bunch’s parents hadn’t offered an apology to them for what he did and accused them of enabling his behavior. She was also offended by the plea deal.
“For you to admit that you took someone’s life, and then you get a choice on how it goes for you? I don’t get it,” Burnett said. “He doesn’t deserve what he’s getting.”
Jones for her part thanked the attorneys for coming together and hammering out a plea with what were “very odd facts.” She also acknowledged that both sets of parents, as with all parents, can never fully know what’s going on in their adult children’s lives.
“Whatever problems (Malik Bunch and his wife) were having should’ve been handled between them,” Jatkewicz said in her closing argument. “They should’ve worked on the relationship, not kill (the wife’s) mistress.”
Cooper, 25, was last seen alive around 6 p.m. on security video at the Merrillville Walmart on March 26, 2022, with her last text messages around 6:40 p.m. that evening. She was found face down in her bedroom inside her apartment at the Whitcomb Terrace Apartments March 28, 2022 after officers did a welfare check when she didn’t show up to work, Merrillville Police Det. Joshua Miskus said.
She was wearing a grey tank top and nude from the waist down, and holding a nearly empty wine bottle that had Bunch’s fingerprint on it. A broken lanyard was under her body, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
A pathologist’s examination found the cause of death was at first undetermined, but with more facts Miskus gave from the investigation and noting marks on her face and neck her cause of death was changed to homicide. She was likely strangled, the pathologist concluded.
A rape kit turned up nothing, leading Miskus to conclude the crime scene had been “staged,” he said.
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A toxicology report said she had no alcohol or drugs in her system.
There were no signs of forced entry and no signs of struggle in the apartment, Miskus told Jatkiewicz, although a screen was later found damaged.
Bunch’s wife admitted they were in a relationship. Around the time of Cooper’s death, the woman got texts from her saying Cooper wanted to break up. It didn’t sound like her but as if someone else was sending it.
Cooper’s phone was never found, Miskus said.
Police learned Bunch appeared to be near Cooper’s apartments around March 23, 2022. He called the dispatch that evening looking for his wife. He appeared to be located just west of Cooper’s apartments.
Witnesses said Bunch’s relationship with his wife was rocky at the time. He enlisted someone to deliver flowers and a teddy bear to her work, since she wasn’t speaking to him.
Before her death, Bunch conducted multiple internet searches, including how to improve his marriage, how to file for divorce, as well as “Jéla Cooper” several times. After police found Cooper’s body, he googled “how to tell if your phone is tapped,” “what is happening in Merrillville, Indiana,” and “does Indiana have the death penalty,” the Post-Tribune reported.
In the plea deal, Bunch admits he broke into Cooper’s apartment on the 4000 block of W. 77th Place, in late March 2022 to “stop her from contacting his wife,” then strangled her and “staged” it as if Cooper “passed out drunk on the floor.”
He’s expected to appeal his sentence.
Staff writer Meredith Colias-Pete contributed.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.