Murder suspect allegedly inspired by "The Purge" could face the death penalty

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- An Indiana man is accused in a Hollywood-style crime spree that left three people dead.

19-year-old Johnathan Cruz is accused of taking three lives on the city's east side in May.

Billy Boyd was murder #1. Boyd was shot and killed during a robbery near 40th and College in Indianapolis on May 12th.

A few hours later, there was another robbery -- and another murder. Jay Higginbotham was shot and killed on Denny Street.

Murder #3 happened at 4:00 a.m. a few days later. Jose Ruiz was killed at Linwood and Washington -- about a block from where Cruz's mother lives.

Cruz was apparently enabled by friends and family members who looked the other way during the killing spree that Cruz allegedly referred to as "purging" in text message conversations and in videos on his cell phone.

"It's rare -- but we have seen it before. Certainly I think there's a tendency to get emboldened after you commit that first act and get away with it and continue with it," Denise Robinson, deputy prosecutor said.

"They're making him out to be some kind of violent, crazy person and he's not. He has a three-month-old daughter and yes, he had issues, but he wasn't that violent -- like, he's not evil like they're making him out to be. He's fun, but not violent," Angela Barger, Cruz's girlfriend said.

"I highly doubt that he done it -- cuz it's not him. I've known him for two years and have a kid with him. Everybody can have a temper, but it doesn't mean you have to shoot someone. He doesn't have to be a serial killer like you all are saying. His daughter has to miss out on his life now because people want to be immature. People who are testifying against him, saying that he has done this stuff are trying to get themselves out of trouble. But they're supposedly friends," Ricki Coine, Cruz's daughter's mother said.

Cruz is being held without bond.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to try this case as a death penalthy case.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Troy Riggs said tips from the community helped them bust Cruz, and a handful of murders have been solved over the past month due to witnesses willingness to call police with information.