MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie man convicted of killing three members of a local family was sentenced Friday to 251 years in prison.
A Delaware Circuit Court 5 jury in October found 30-year-old Devin Xavier Myers guilty of the three murder charges, along with counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
Devin Myers
At Friday’s hearing, Renae Perdue — mother, daughter and niece of the homicide victims — urged Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. to impose a sentence that would prevent Myers from harming more people.
“Devin Myers is a demon,” the witness said. “I know if he had the chance he would do it again. Absolutely.”
Myers was convicted of fatally shooting 19-year-old Kyler Ryan Musick on July 12, 2022. That homicide took place at the defendant’s South Pershing Drive home.
Early the next morning, witnesses said, Myers and an accomplice went to the South Liberty Street home of Musick’s family.
During an armed home invasion there, trial testimony indicated, Myers fatally shot both Musick’s 69-year-old grandfather, Malcolm Perdue, and the teen’s great-aunt, Kyndra Kay Swift, 51.
Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman on Friday suggested Myers receive a maximum sentence of 269 years and six months, calling the Muncie man “deranged, disturbed, violent … and a career criminal.”
Public defender Joel Hand had suggested his client — who he noted was still maintaining his innocence — should receive a minimum sentence.
Hand said his client should be sentenced “not as a demon (or) a devil, but as a person.”
He noted Myers had a difficult upbringing and experienced both “mental instability and emotional instability.”
Hoffman, however, said repeated efforts had been made over the decades to help Myers address his issues, but to no avail.
“This defendant murdered three people in less than 24 hours,” the prosecutor said. “They weren’t just shot. They were executed.”
Hoffman said after Myers was released from prison a few months before the Muncie homicides, the Muncie man repeatedly had firearms in his possession, even though his criminal record prohibited him from having guns.
“He doesn’t care,” the prosecutor said. “Because Devin Myers does what he wants to do when he wants to do it.”
Hoffman noted Myers had compiled a long history of arrests and convictions and had been making death threats since he was a child, at one point threatening to behead a classmate at Muncie’s Southview Elementary School.
“He’s morally bankrupt,” Hoffman said.
Renae Perdue — who managed to escape from the armed home invasion and called police to the scene — and her daughter Kambree testified about the devastating effect the slayings had on their family.
One relative took his own life in the wake of the homicides, Renae Perdue told the judge.
Malcolm Perdue was described by his granddaughter as “the greatest man I ever knew.”
Renae Perdue said her father had been “our go-to for everything.”
Perdue also said her son “had his whole life to lead” when he was slain. His death left Kyler Musick’s young daughter without a father.
In imposing the 251-year sentence, Judge Cannon said Myers’ criminal record showed “a distinct pattern of escalating violent offenses,” reflecting a “cold, callous killer without conscience.”
Myers declined to speak at Friday’s hearing. Asked by the judge whether he wished to make a statement, Myers said, “I’m good, your honor.”
Hand indicated his client will appeal his convictions and sentence.
The sentence included penalties for Myers’ status as a habitual offender and over the use of a firearm in committing the crimes.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Man convicted of killing 3 members of Muncie family gets 251 years