A Merrillville man was sentenced to 60 years Wednesday in a Winfield nurse’s beating death.
A jury convicted Raju Rawal, 67, last month in 36-year-old Haley Losinski’s Feb. 23, 2023 murder. He would likely die in prison.
He said he was innocent and would appeal.
During the sentencing hearing, her family described Losinski as a dedicated critical care nurse at Methodist Hospital and mother who struggled with alcoholism toward the end of her life.
It was “horrible,” her mother Kathy Losinski said, who discovered her body days later.
“I miss her so terribly,” she said, adding she had the “biggest heart.”
She told Judge Natalie Bokota she wanted a sentence without parole. Bokota noted the court didn’t decide parole.
“You took our only daughter,” she told Rawal, adding the death was “senseless.”
Lance Losinski, her brother, told the court that Rawal “exploited” her alcoholism.
Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar asked for 60 years.
Rawal admitted he was in a sexual relationship with Losinski, saying they were good friends.
Balcazar said her family tried to help her addiction, but Rawal effectively fed it. He has access to Losinski’s Winfield townhome and used it to “end her life,” he said.
The prosecutor said the next day Rawal was working at the Marathon gas station in Winfield when saw Losinski’s dad. Rawal told him to go check on his daughter because she wasn’t doing well. Rawal later denied the timing of the exchange.
Defense lawyer Kevin Milner spoke briefly, asking for 45 years.
Rawal denied culpability in court.
He said he was “the most innocent person in this case” and “never put my hands” on Losinski. She was “not a kid” and got liquor on her own, he said. Rawal said he was “ready to answer” any questions from witnesses or anyone else.
“This is not a time for questions,” Bokota told him.
It was clear Losinski was a “compromised alcoholic” and Rawal “took advantage of (her) vulnerability,” Bokota said. He was “predatory,” “dishonest,” and “manipulative.”
When she died, Losinski was so drunk she couldn’t defend herself, the judge said.
After the hearing, Lance Losinski said it was a “relief” that he criminal case was over. The family has filed a pending civil lawsuit against Rawal. His sister was “very passionate” about her nursing career and body building, a hobby, he said.
Authorities said Rawal was the last person to see Losinski alive.
In December 2022, she became involved with another man, Harminder Singh-Heera, 24, while Rawal went to India for a month, who worked at the same gas station and was the owner’s brother-in-law, according to trial testimony.
Singh-Heera was brought to testify briefly at trial where he denied killing her, but mostly pleaded the 5th. Police ruled him out as a suspect, since his DNA wasn’t found at the scene and cell phone records showed he wasn’t near her townhome. During the investigation, detectives found child porn on his phone when he handed it over to the cops. That criminal case is pending.
Winfield Police arrived at 5:40 p.m. Feb. 27, 2023, on the 11200 block of Pike Place.
The victim was found without underwear and her pants pulled down to her ankles. She wore a “distinct gold bracelet.” There appeared to be blood on the bed with the master bathroom in “disarray” with the shower rod and curtain pulled off the wall.
The mother told police she last saw her daughter when she dropped her off at the home around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 20.
The coroner’s office noticed Losinski’s body had red marks around her neck. An autopsy showed she died from blunt force trauma with “multiple blows” to the head. Her death was ruled a homicide.
