SOUTH BEND — A 28-year-old man accused of brutally stabbing his neighbor to death pleaded guilty Thursday.

Adam Chrzan accepted a plea agreement with the state, pleading guilty to felony murder. The plea comes with a binding sentence of 65 years in prison.

Chrzan’s victim, Bill Fields, 86, was found dead Jan. 8 in his home at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Panama Street.

“It’s a sense of relief for us,” said Brandi Miller, Fields’ granddaughter. “We’re not happy, because nothing’s going to make us happy about this. We’re satisfied that he had to say he did it. He had to say he killed him.”

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WSBT story

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Publication Date: 01/23/2009 12:00:00 AM
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MISHAWAKA — Until the day of his death, William Fields’ presence at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Panama Street, where he lived alone, was nearly as constant as that of the stoic maple that grows there.

Weather permitting, he was a fixture on the front porch, friends and family said, quick with a wave and a smile and always ready to chat.

On Thursday evening, dozens gathered in Fields’ front yard, around the maple that for so many years provided him shelter, to participate in a prayer service for the 86-year-old, who was found stabbed to death inside his home earlier this month.

Dennis Fields, William Fields’ son, found the setting appropriate.

“It just seems so important to be around this tree here,” the Niles man said at one point, addressing the crowd as he squinted at the highest branches. “He loved this tree. He sat out here many, many hours.”

About 60 people attended Thursday’s service, which was organized by the county’s On-Site Prayer Ministry.

The evening began with prayer and ended with the singing of the first verse of “Amazing Grace.” In between, friends, neighbors and family members offered remembrances.

One neighbor recalled that whenever he walked by with his two huskies, William Fields always waved and said hello. Another recalled how much the widower loved the wild creatures that made a home in his yard.

“He always fed the animals,” Dennis Fields said of his father. “He had squirrels come up and knock on his front door, and he would basically come out and feed them.”

Dennis Fields said his father had about him a simple nature.

“He was a friend by the side of the road,” he said. “There wasn’t anything special about him. He didn’t have a lot of money or assets, just a lot of heart.”

Adam Chrzan, 27, of Mishawaka, a neighbor of William Fields, is accused in the man’s death.

Dennis Fields said he attended Chrzan’s initial hearing Jan. 20, what would have been his father’s 87th birthday.

Asked what he’d like to see happen to his father’s suspected killer, Dennis Fields said only that he wanted “justice to be served.”

“I want him to pay for what he did, and own up to it,” he said.

“I don’t know if I can forgive him, but I’ll walk him to the door.”

Staff writer Erin Blasko: eblasko@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6187

SOUTH BEND — A 27-year-old Mishawaka man accused of killing his neighbor had his initial hearing Tuesday, on what would have been the 87th birthday of the victim.

Adam Chrzan is charged with murder, robbery and burglary in the death of William Fields at his Grand Avenue home. An autopsy revealed Fields died from blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds.

Investigators initially linked Chrzan to the crime through a flat-panel television. The item, missing from Fields’ home, was later found in the possession of a man who admitted buying it from Chrzan after Fields’ death.

Brandi Miller, Fields’ granddaughter who first discovered his body, said her grandfather was looking forward to more than his birthday, which also fell on Inauguration Day.

“This was the first time he voted Democrat in his entire life,” Miller said. “He was really excited Obama won, and excited about the possibility of change.”

St. Joseph Superior Judge Jane Woodward Miller set an April 27 trial date for Chrzan, who pleaded not guilty and is being held in jail without bond.

Miller set a plea cut-off date of March 17.

A prayer vigil for Fields is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Panama Street, across from Mary Gibbard Park.