Riley Choate, 39, of Hammond, also was charged with battery and criminal confinement in the April 2009 death of Christian Choate, whose apparent body was found last week in a shallow grave where Riley Choate told police he buried it with lime to make it decompose faster.
Lake County police released the charges just hours after Riley Choate pleaded not guilty to preliminary charges of altering the scene of a death, a felony, and failing to notify authorities of discovering a dead body and failing to report a dead body, both misdemeanors. Officials say it could take months to confirm the body's identity through DNA testing.
The same charges were filed against the boy's apparent stepmother, who was identified in court documents as KImberly Leona Kubina, Kimberly Leona Kubina-Choate or Kimberly Leona Choate. She was 45. Lake County Police Deputy Commander Rob Arnold said it wasn't clear whether the pair were married, but Kubina told police the couple were married in 1999.
Both were being held without bond Tuesday in the Lake County Jail.
Speaking before police released the additional charges, defense attorney Randy Godshalk said there appeared to be "inconsistencies" in some witnesses' stories included in the affidavit. The prosecutor's office said Kubina did not have an attorney.
Police began investigating on May 1 after Christian's mother reported she had received a phone call from her teenage daughter telling her about the...Read more here.
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