Lisa A. Hankins

Lisa A. "Nettie" Hankins

Gaston Reserve Officer Kills Estranged Wife

Police say Benjamin Hankins, 36, shot and killed his wife, Lisa A. Hankins, 32, Friday morning at his house in Harrison Township

MUNCIE (June 3, 2011) - Police say a reserve officer with the Gaston Police Department shot and killed his estranged wife Friday morning during a domestic dispute in his Harrison Township home.

The victim, Lisa A. "Nettie" Hankins, 32, was pronounced dead at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital. She suffered multiple gunshot wounds, Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn said.

Her husband, Benjamin Allan Hankins, 36, called 911 at 7:44 a.m. to report his wife had been shot in his house, in the 5800 block of North Delaware County Road 600-W, just north of Bethel Avenue. He was taken into custody at the scene and has been preliminarily charged with murder, according to Capt. Richard Pickett with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office.

Lisa Hankins had filed for divorce last September, and the case was still pending at the time of her death, according to court records.

In a frantic call to 911 dispatchers, Benjamin Hankins reported his wife "pulled my gun on me. And then I shot back." (See update below).  Pickett on Friday night confirmed more than one weapon was found at the scene.

The police captain said the shooting occurred after Lisa Hankins had stopped at her husband's home so their two oldest children could catch the bus to Wes-Del Elementary School.  "It was during the time when kids were going to school and getting on the buses, and we're trying to find out all those details," Pickett said.

The couple's third child, who is 4, was apparently waiting outside in a car when her mother was shot.  "My wife and I were having an argument," Hankins said during one of three separate conversations with dispatchers.

Asked where his wife had been hit by gunfire, Hankins said there was a wound "right in the chest (and) there's one in the arm."  Hankins sounded panicked as a dispatcher repeatedly urged him to try to perform CPR on his wife, whom he indicated was not breathing.  "There's all kinds of blood," he said. "I... I... I can't."

Pickett said Lisa Hankins was still alive when police arrived at the scene. She was taken to the Muncie hospital, where doctors attempted a life-saving surgery, according to Coroner Hahn.

Pickett said Lisa and Benjamin Hankins were not living together at the time of the shooting. She is listed in court documents at a Muncie address.  Gaston police Cpl. James Dixon said Benjamin Hankins has been a reserve officer with his department for about three years. He declined further comment about the shooting, calling it an "open investigation."  "It's a sad day for us, it's a sad day for the family," Dixon said. "We knew their family well. They've come to all our events and things like that, so we need to let the investigation take its course."

According to Delaware Circuit Court 4 records, Lisa Hankins sued her husband for divorce last Sept. 13, saying her marriage had "suffered an irretrievable breakdown."  While the divorce suit was pending, Lisa Hankins was granted custody of the couple's three children, who range in age from 9 to 4. The couple reached an agreement in late October for Benjamin Hankins to continue to pay the family's baby-sitting expenses and "visitation shall be as the parties agree."

On Dec. 1, Benjamin Hankins requested a citation be issued against his estranged wife, claiming she "fails and refuses" to abide by that visitation agreement.  A Dec. 22 order by Delaware Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick indicates that dispute involved the Thanksgiving holiday, and Feick specified, by the day and hour, where the children would be during the Christmas holidays.  A final hearing, at which the divorce presumably would have been granted, was set for Feb. 11, but Benjamin Hankins requested a continuance, reporting he had "just started a new job and is unable to miss work."

The hearing was reset for May 10. Lisa Hankins' attorney, Kristin Willadsen, requested a subpoena for Benjamin Hankins to provide documentation that his work schedule had in fact prevented him from attending the February hearing.  On May 10, however, both Lisa and Benjamin Hankins and their attorneys -- Willadsen and Jack Quirk, who represented Benjamin -- asked that the matter be "continued until further order."

Transcript of Hankin's 911 calls here.

UPDATE

MUNCIE -- A police report released Monday indicates the 4-year-old daughter of Lisa A. "Nettie" Hankins and her estranged husband, Benjamin Allan Hankins, listened in as her father shot and killed her mother Friday morning in his Harrison Township home.

A probable cause affidavit for Benjamin Hankins' arrest on preliminary murder charges reports the preschooler told an investigator with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office that she was outside when she overheard her father tell her mother to "lay down and die," to which her mother responded, "I'm sorry Ben, I'm sorry and I don't want to die."

The girl, who had reportedly seen Benjamin Hankins "come to the door with a gun behind his back," then listened as he shot her mother "several times" inside the house.  The document also contains several other previously unreleased details of the shooting, including Benjamin Hankins' recollection of the attack to investigators just hours after it occurred.

At 7:44 a.m. Friday, emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from Benjamin Hankins, who said he had shot his wife in his house in the 5800 block of North Delaware County Road 600-W, just north of Bethel Avenue.

When officers arrived, according to the report, they found Lisa Hankins, 32, lying on the floor in the kitchen. She was rushed to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, where doctors attempted a life-saving surgery before her death, according to Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn.  Hahn said Monday he was awaiting results of Lisa Hankins' autopsy.

According to the affidavit, Benjamin Hankins, 36, told investigators Friday he had recently separated from Lisa, his wife of 10 years. Lisa Hankins had filed for divorce last September, and the case was still pending at the time of her death, according to court records.

Benjamin Hankins said the shooting occurred after Lisa Hankins had stopped at her husband's home so their two oldest children, ages 9 and 8, could catch the bus to Wes-Del Elementary School. Their youngest child, a 4-year-old daughter, was reportedly left alone in the car when an argument broke out between her parents.

In a frantic call to 911 dispatchers, Benjamin Hankins, a reserve police officer with the Gaston Police Department and employee with the Indiana Department of Corrections, claimed he shot his wife in self-defense after Lisa Hankins "pulled my gun on me. And then I shot back."

Benjamin Hankins' statements to police, according to the report, do not indicate his reasoning behind the attack, however. Police on Friday did confirm more than one weapon was found at the scene.

During the argument, Benjamin Hankins told investigators, he "went into the living room and retrieved a gun from the couch" and then "pointed the gun at Mrs. Hankins and shot her several times." Benjamin Hankins said he shot at Lisa Hankins more than once, but was unsure exactly how many times bullets struck her.

The police report also indicates a recent history of threats, in the form of emails and text messages, from Benjamin Hankins to Lisa Hankins. Kurt Walthour, an investigator with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, would not comment Monday on the content of those threats, citing the ongoing investigation.

Walthour did note Benjamin Hankins' demeanor in his interview with investigators on Friday following the shooting.  "(Benjamin Hankins) showed little emotion," Walthour said.

Zachary Craig, a deputy prosecutor with the Delaware County Prosecutor's Office, said Monday he expects formal murder charges against Benjamin Hankins to be filed Wednesday in Delaware Circuit Court 2.

Christian Choate

Christian Choate

Dad, Stepmom Charged in Murder of Boy Found Under Concrete Slab

By Ruth Ann Krause, Chicago Sun-Times Media
May 11, 2011

Locked in a dog cage naked or chained to a bed frame, 13-year-old Christian Choate wouldn’t make much noise because if he did, the beatings would get worse.

The boy, found buried in a shallow grave near his former mobile home one week ago, had been abused for two to three years, police said.

Murder, battery, neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement charges were filed in Lake County, Ind. Tuesday against the boy’s father, Riley Lowell Choate, 39, of Hammond, and stepmother, Kimberly Leona Kubina, 45, of the Black Oak section of Gary. They will appear for initial hearings Wednesday morning.

Witnesses told police that Choate would slap Christian in the face after family members alleged Christian had molested a male relative. The beatings, which were witnessed by other children, grew more severe as Choate and his now ex-wife argued and Choate took it out on Christian, court records state.

When the family lived in the 7200 block of Polk Street in Merrillville, Choate and Kubina would lock Christian in a room in the basement. After the family moved to the Colfax Mobile Home Park in Black Oak, Riley put Christian in a dog cage bought from a neighbor and secured with seven locks. A witness told police Christian lived in the dog cage at their home in the 5900 block of West 36th Avenue every day for more than a year, until his death on April 5, 2009.

During that time, the boy’s parents would have his 17-year-old sister chain him to a bed frame that was leaning up against a dresser. The girl told police she was responsible for feeding Christian, taking him to the bathroom, forcing him to exercise or physically punishing him for failing to follow orders. She told police Choate would abuse her if she didn’t perform her duties properly.

“He needs to be locked up. He’s a dog,” Kubina told the other children, court records state.

Some beatings videotaped

As the beatings escalated, Christian would be denied food and confined naked except for a diaper, sometimes gagged with a sock and duct tape. The other children would try to sneak him food. Ice-cold baths twice a week would prompt his screams. The boy’s hands and feet began to turn purple from being tied to the bed frame.

The girl said she would strike the boy and once choked him until he turned blue, and used her stepmother’s video camera at Kubina’s direction to record the beatings. Those recordings were later recorded over, the girl said, but police searched Kubina’s home in Kentucky and recovered several computers, digital cameras, cell phones and other electronic storage devices.

On the day before Christian died, he refused to eat. His father became enraged and punched him in his head with full force several times before throwing him back in the cage, authorities said. On April 5, 2009, the girl told police she woke up and tried to feed her brother some cereal, but he refused, so she slapped him across the face twice and put him in the cage. She continued to check on him and eventually noticed he wasn’t breathing and called her stepmother and aunt, who had gone to pick up one of the other children who got in trouble at school. The girl said she attempted CPR on Christian with an air mattress pump.

At Kubina’s direction, the girl told police, she wrapped Christian in a yellow blanket, put him inside two black plastic bags and secured them in duct tape. Authorities alleged that Kubina and Choate buried the boy under a shed across the street from his former home in Black Oak. Police found the body under a layer of concrete, covered with lime and a Bible resting on his chest.

Cage meant for a dog

After the boy died, Kubina told the children Christian had run away, but a witness recalled Kubina asking Choate if he thought they would get caught. “What are you talking about?” Choate responded as he played racing games on the computer. “You know, the thing about Christian,” Kubina is quoted as saying.

Kubina told the children that Christian running away “is a family thing and we’re going to work through it. This goes to the grave,” court documents said.

Christian’s mother, Aimee Estrada, said she left Choate after he began abusing her. Choate had custody of their two children in July 2005, and Estrada said she was not allowed to visit her children after last seeing Christian in 2005. She contacted police May 1 after learning from her daughter that Christian had died.

Lori Wingard, the Choates’ former neighbor at Colfax Mobile Home Park, said Kubina approached her about buying the dog cage for $15. Wingard had sold her Alaskan malamute and the new owners weren’t taking the cage with them. When she learned the cage was used to confine Christian, Wingard said she cried and cried. “I had no idea,” she said.

On Tuesday, Choate pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of removal of a body from a death scene, failure to notify authorities of the discovery of a dead body and failure to report a dead body.

From the Huffington Post:

The extent of that homeschooling was revealed in some letters found by DCS. When other children were out playing, Kubina would give Christian paper and tell him to write....In a still more disturbing twist, the Northwest Indiana Times reveals some of the assignments his stepmother gave:

Kubina wrote topics on top of some of the pages including, "Why do you want to play with your peter? Why do you still want to see your mom? Why can't you let the past go? What does it mean to be part of a family?" DCS records state.

'I want to die': Chilling letters of boy, 13, 'kept in dog cage and beaten to death by parents'

Christian's Biological Mother

Aimee Estrada, Christian's abused mom, was BLOCKED from seeing the children for years.  See the information on it here.  (SHE DID NOT GIVE UP CUSTODY OF HER CHILDREN, AN INDIANA JUDGE GAVE THE ABUSIVE FATHER, WHO WAS NOT HER HUSBAND, CHILD CUSTODY). She is currently seeking custody of the daughter, who is in the custody of the stepmother's family.

Lauren McConniel

Lauren McConniel

Red flags not recognized during fatal neglect of Lauren McConniel

By SETH SLABAUGH • • June 16, 2010

MUNCIE -- In the months leading up to her death, 5-year-old Lauren McConniel was treated twice at Ball Memorial Hospital, once at Southway Urgent Care Center, once at St. Vincent Randolph Hospital in Winchester and three times at Merdian Services, a behavioral health care provider.

Despite staff seeing broken fingers, malnutrition, a head injury, weight loss, unusual vaginal appearance and bizarre behavior, only one of these professional caregivers called Child Protective Services (CPS), which was just a 1-800 telephone call away, police say.

Karen Royer -- a counselor at Meridian who reported that in all of her years of dealing with kids she had never heard of such bizarre behavior, and who believed the girl was being seriously sexually abused -- did contact CPS. Lauren looked exhausted, frail and fragile to Royer.

But that was on March 1, and the target of the sexual abuse allegation was not the girl's father, Ryan, or stepmother, Brittany, who had custody of Lauren. The target was Amber Huggins, the girl's natural mother who was living in Knoxville, Tenn. Huggins had last seen her daughter seven months earlier, when Lauren was in good health, and Huggins had been desperately searching for her.

By March 3, Lauren was hospitalized at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where she developed seizures, respiratory failure and shock. She died there six days later.

"Child Protective Services was contacted by Karen Royer over allegations of sexual abuse that Ryan and Brittany made about the natural mother," said Muncie police Sgt. Jimmy Gibson. "The trouble is, Karen Royer believed Ryan and Brittany. They were believable. But I don't suspect the natural mom at all. The natural mom hadn't had contact with the child since August, and here this (allegation) was coming up in February and March. When the natural mom had custody of her, her weight was normal and the pictures showed she was healthy and happy."

And those weren't the only lies the McConniels told to caregivers, Gibson said. They also claimed that Lauren was being treated for malnutrition by a Winchester physician, who had never even seen her once.

Also, at Southway Urgent Care on Feb. 4, the McConniels presented themselves as rescuers of the child, claiming they had just recently obtained custody of the girl. "When questioned about the girl's weight, they acted concerned and blamed the natural mom," Gibson said. "And they were convincing."

Bill Gosnell, a nurse at Southway who treated Lauren, declined comment, saying, "This is going to trial."

On Dec. 8, Lauren was treated by physician Tom Mengelt in the emergency department at BMH for broken right fingers from jumping on the bed.

"I don't know why they didn't report that to (CPS)," Gibson said. "People don't want to believe that parents would hurt their kids that way. They think surely the parents care or they wouldn't bring a kid in with broken fingers."

The child was seen again at BMH on March 2 for a head injury caused by a fall. A clinical impression of malnutrition and behavioral problems was also noted during that visit. The hospital sent Lauren home after treatment including a CT scan.

On that same day, the McConniels took the child to Valle Vista Health Systems in Greenwood for psychiatric treatment (the couple were unable to contact Meridian).

Ellen Harrington, a counselor at Valle Vista, diagnosed the girl's problem as lack of supervision, failure to thrive, malnutrition and medical neglect. Harrington referred Lauren to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where she was taken in the early morning hours of March 3. She died there on March 9.

"We can't comment regarding any specific patient or related processes, but we are cooperating fully with the investigation, and our hearts go out to the family," BMH spokesman Neil Gifford said.

Hank Milius, president of Meridian Services, said, "We at Meridian Services are deeply saddened by the death of Lauren McConniel. While privacy laws prevent us from commenting specifically on this case, in the event there is a suspected case of child abuse or neglect, Meridian staff are trained to make a report to the Indiana Department of Child Services."

Gibson credits Southway with referring Lauren to Meridian Services, and he credits Meridian Services for contacting CPS.

Under Indiana law, anyone who has reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect is required to report it.

Investigation ongoing

Police have not closed their investigation of the hospital's and Southway's failure to report the McConniels to CPS. Failing to report is a misdemeanor, Gibson said.

"Any red flag could be reported to us," said Ann Houseworth, a spokesman for the department of child services. "We would rather assess a situation that was not a case of abuse and neglect than not assess a situation and find that the child was placed in more harm."

The child abuse hotline is staffed 24 hours a day. If a child is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm, CPS is required by law to respond within an hour. If a child may be a victim of abuse, the agency must respond within 24 hours, and if a report of child neglect is made, the maximum response time by law is five days.

"If someone sees something that makes you wonder, you might want to ask questions to find out more," Houseworth said.

She declined comment on Lauren's death.

After Royer reported the suspected abuse of Lauren to CPS, "I believe CPS here contacted CPS in Tennessee, because that's where the allegations were," Gibson said. "Lauren was scheduled to be interviewed by SMART (Sexual Molestation and Abuse Response Team), me or (Sgt. Linda) Cook, on March 3. We were doing it as a courtesy for Tennessee. That's when she went into Riley. I wish I could have talked to her. I hate it that I didn't."

Police also haven't closed their investigation into other family members for failure to report.

Lauren's stepgrandparents Robert and Angie Lee and her step aunt Samra Lee shared a house at 2304 S. Ebright St. with the McConniels, Lauren and Lauren's older sister.

"There are a whole lot more family members (than the McConniels) who could be held accountable," Gibson said. "But how far do we go? Do we arrest everybody? We're behind on other cases and under-staffed."

Amber Huggins, Lauren McConniel's mother, spent six months trying to find daughters

MUNCIE -- The biological mother of Lauren McConniel says she lost custody of the girl because she couldn't afford an attorney.

She also says she pleaded unsuccessfully with the girl's father and stepmother -- via e-mail -- to tell her where they were living in the months before Lauren's death.

"I was kept from my daughter for six months," said Amber Huggins, a Marion native now living in Knoxville, Tenn. "I looked everywhere for them (Lauren and her 9-year-old sister) for six months."

Five-year-old Lauren's father, Ryan McConniel, and stepmother, Brittany McConniel, have been charged with felony neglect of a dependent resulting in Lauren's death on March 9.

Amber and Ryan's divorce decree in White County, Ark., granted Ryan custody of both children to the father.

"I did not have the financial resources to have an attorney," Amber said this week in a telephone interview. "Ryan had an attorney and I did not. There was no other reason he got custody. I was not an unfit mother. I never hurt my children."

Ryan kept the older daughter, but let Amber have Lauren starting at Christmas of 2008 after Amber filed a complaint of child abuse.

"She had bruises on her," Amber said. "I asked her what happened and she said she didn't know. I took pictures of the bruises but they were old and not good quality pictures. Child protective services in White County said it was not enough."

Amber had Lauren until August 2009 when Ryan took her back. He gave Knoxville police an address in Winchester where he said he would be living.

But Amber later traveled to Winchester, and, accompanied by the police, went to the address Ryan had provided to Knoxville police.

Nobody had lived at the address in a long time.

"I sent numerous e-mails begging them to give me their address," Amber said. "I was told they were living in Winchester. I heard they were living in Farmland. I heard Fort Wayne. I heard Muncie. I heard everything."

Amber said Ryan and Brittany responded by e-mail that she could see the girls when they got old enough to decide for themselves if they wanted to see her.

"I went to the Muncie police the same day I went to Winchester," Amber said. "They told me to file contempt charges against Ryan (for denying her court-ordered visitation rights). I was in the process of filing contempt charges when I got the phone call that Lauren was in the hospital."

Ryan, Brittany and the two girls had been living with Brittany's sister, Samra Lee, and Brittany's mother and stepfather, Angie and Robert E. Lee, on South Ebright Street.

"My daughter was alive and perfectly happy and normal and healthy when she was with me," Amber said. "She was a normal delivery, a normal pregnancy and a normal daughter. I should be signing her up for kindergarten and she should be cheerleading."

After Lauren's death, child protective services removed the 9-year-old from Ryan and Brittany's custody and placed her in foster care.

On March 19, Muncie attorney Kimberly Dowling, representing Amber, filed a petition for emergency custody of the 9-year-old, who now lives with Amber. The petition said Lauren was emaciated, significantly bruised and had elevated salt levels in her blood when she died.

"Child protective services in Arkansas was involved in December of 2008 or January of 2009 over allegations that Lauren had bruises," said Muncie police Sgt. Jimmy Gibson. "They investigated it, and I believe it was reported by the father and stepmother that Lauren was now living with the bio-mom, so the case was closed. The father and stepmother reported that Lauren had bumped into a trash can. The bio-mom had pictures of bruising but I think they were taken with a cell phone and weren't very good."

The Lees remain under investigation by Gibson for failure to report child abuse and neglect.

"Hopefully, some family might come forward and have a conscience and do the right thing," Gibson said. "The uncle next door threatened to call child protective services but never did."

Angie Lee gave police a statement, while Samra Lee declined to be interviewed, according to Gibson. Robert E. Lee went in for a police interview but reported he was hurting and ended up putting himself in the hospital, according to Gibson. "He said he needed to leave and never came back."

Debra Houser

Debra Houser

Rodney Houser Guilty of Ex’s Murder

Jurors reject lesser charges

Rebecca S. Green | The Journal Gazette

Published: May 14, 2010 3:00 a.m.

COLUMBIA CITY – Rodney Houser swore he killed his ex-wife in a sudden fit of anger. But a Whitley Circuit Court jury disagreed, convicting the 44-year-old man of murder.  After two days of dramatic testimony, almost 300 exhibits and nearly four hours of deliberation, the jury decided not to convict Houser of voluntary manslaughter.

Court-appointed defense attorney Anthony Churchward conceded at the beginning of the trial that Houser is to blame for his ex-wife’s disappearance and death last November. Churchward asked the jury to convict Houser of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because he acted in “sudden heat” as defined by state law.

But Whitley County Prosecutor Matt Rentschler argued Houser intended all along to kill his wife and therefore committed murder, stomping her to death with a pair of cowboy boots.

Police arrested Houser the day after his ex-wife went missing, after a friend told the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department that Houser had killed 49-year-old Debra Houser at her Old Trail Road home and asked for his help in disposing of the body. Confronted by police, Houser told them his ex-wife was at work and had called his cell phone that morning at 7:30, later admitting he had made the call on her cell phone himself.

Twenty-nine days later, on Dec. 15, her battered body was discovered in a Whitley County creek by detectives acting on a tip from a farmer who thought he had seen Houser’s truck in the area the day of Debra Houser’s disappearance. An autopsy revealed she died from multiple blunt-force injuries, caused by what was later revealed to be a pair of black leather cowboy boots.

Houser took the stand on Wednesday. He said his ex-wife had provoked him to a violent rage by confronting him about his failure to be home to get their son off the school bus, throwing him out of the house, insulting his girlfriend and hitting him during the argument.

But Rentschler asked the jury whether that was enough provocation to cause an ordinary person to go into such a violent rage.

“Is that provocation?” he asked. “Even if it’s true? Don’t lower the standard to his level. … Nothing takes away our God-given choice of free will. Calling (the crime) something less than murder just doesn’t fit.”  He again played for the jury a recording of a jail-house phone conversation Houser had with his girlfriend. During the call, an obviously irritated Houser describes his ex-wife as “the curse of his life.”

“I’m happy with the world and the outcome,” Houser said on the phone. “Instead of just accepting, … I decided on my own. … For once something (expletive) happened that got (expletive) changed.”

Churchward argued that the evidence clearly showed Houser became enraged that night, demonstrated by the manner in which he killed her, using his feet.

“He used what he had at his disposal at that split second when it happened,” Churchward said.  Houser seemed passive, as he had through much of the trial, as the jury’s verdict was read.

Debra Houser’s daughter and family friends hugged and cried as the jury filed out of the courtroom.  Elaine Tuttle, a 20-year friend of Debra Houser, described her as a generous and caring person but wondered whether her desire to help other people contributed to her death.

“But that’s why we all loved her so much. You always knew you could count on her,” she said. “She was the best kind of best friend I could have had.”

After the verdict, Rentschler said he believed the taped jail conversation made a difference for the jury, allowing them to see a difference in Houser’s demeanor.

“I think the jury did a wonderful job examining the evidence,” Rentschler said.

Amber Kunkle, Debra Houser’s daughter with another man, was a constant presence at the trial, sitting directly in line with the witness chair and taking it all in.

She said her mother raised her to be a strong person, and she said she felt her presence throughout the case.  “You can’t change the past,” Kunkle said, standing in front of the Courthouse. “But you can look to the future to make it better.”

Kunkle has custody of Debra and Rodney Houser’s 10-year-old son.

The boy has asked some questions about what is going on, Kunkle said, and knows that what happened to his mother was caused by his father, which will result in a long jail term.

“For right or wrong, though, he loves his parents,” she said.

With prior felony convictions for battery to his son, invasion of privacy, stalking and intimidation, Houser could face more than 55 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-June.

Leon Walker

Leon Walker

Boy's mother hoped new beginning was near

Woman entered church program, then came news of son's brutal death

May 4, 2010

BY LORI CALDWELL, (219) 648-3258

GARY -- Turquoise Walker thought she had a plan that would mark the start of a new beginning for herself and her two sons.

But that changed Wednesday night when 5-year-old Leon Walker arrived at the hospital, covered with welts and bruises, dead from a broken neck.

The boy's father, Leon Burns, 28, and his girlfriend, Rochell Johnson, 32, have been charged with murder and neglect in the beating death of the boy. Police say the boy was bound and tortured in the hours before his death.

Burns has a formal appearance in Lake Superior Court Judge Clarence Murray's court at 8:30 a.m. May 11. He's scheduled for a hearing on June 29.

Johnson has a May 14 court date.

Turquoise Walker, 26, cloistered in a church program for three weeks, is hurt, angry and confused about her loss.

"We planned this baby, we were engaged, we'd been together for six years. I was with this man throughout the all and all, the hard times and the good times. This was his first born," she said Monday from the Good Samaritan Mission home where she is part of a Christian Discipleship program.

"I read that he said he went too far. Yes, you did, you went too far when you beat him daily. What person in his right mind would do that?" she said.

Veteran investigators say the injuries they saw are some of the most brutal they've ever seen. Police accuse Burns of tying the boy's hands and with electrical cord and hitting him with a belt.

Johnson was at the Glen Park home the couple shared during the beatings, court records state. She heard the boy beg to be untied and heard his screams as he was punched. After he fell quiet, the couple called for an ambulance.

Leon died when his cervical spine was snapped. Police said he had a deep ligature mark around his neck.

Walker said she and Leon Burns were a couple for six years, then split. She had been living in Wisconsin, but Leon spoke with his father regularly. Last year she decided to come back to be near her family.

Her grandmother was taking care of Leon and her other son in East Chicago.

"I haven't seen my son in nine months. I've been on my own trying to make my own way; it's been one thing after another," she said.

Little Leon was "energetic. He loved his brother, he was always willing to help. He had the most beautiful smile," his mother recalled.

Mission Pastor Jim Watson said Turquoise Walker had crafted a colorful beaded key chain and a heart to mail to Leon for his sixth birthday on Monday.

"Within an hour of when she was going to the post office to mail the gifts, the police were here," Watson said.

"She came here so she could become the mother she needs to be. She thought her child was safe," Watson said, describing Walker as "fragile" in the aftermath of Leon's death.

Burns was supposed to keep the boy for a weekend visit, but when Walker's grandmother started calling to bring Leon home, "and it was one excuse after another," Walker said.

"Now we know why," she said.

Today Walker will make funeral arrangements for her son.

"I have no idea how to plan one," she said.

Watson said his church is handling the funeral costs. Anyone who wishes to donate in Leon Walker's memory to the program that helps women like his mother can send donations to the Good Samaritan Mission, P.O. Box 64580, Gary, Ind. 46401.

Jennifer Parrett

Jennifer Parrett

Man kills girlfriend, then self

Mom shot leaving Wabash home with 2 sons in car

Published: March 10, 2010 3:00 a.m.

Holly Abrams
The Journal Gazette

A Wabash man shot his girlfriend to death – while she was backing her car out of their driveway with their two children in tow – before killing himself Monday, police said.

Wabash County officials have ruled the deaths a homicide-suicide. Jennifer Parrett, 27, and Ryan Hunt, 30, each died of a single gunshot wound, Coroner Carol Whitesel said.

Police were called to their home at 745 Courtland Ave. in Wabash just after 6:30 p.m. Monday. A next-door neighbor saw a vehicle crash into a tree stump outside the home, Wabash police detective Jim Kirk said.

The neighbor called 911 before seeing Hunt shoot himself in the head in a grassy area about 50 yards from the driveway, Kirk said.

An officer arrived at the home moments before Hunt took his life, although the officer did not witness the suicide. A .410 bore shotgun was found on the ground next to Hunt’s body, along with an empty shell casing, Kirk said.

Moments earlier, Hunt shot Parrett as she tried to back out of the driveway. Parrett was shot in her left armpit through the driver’s-side window. The Chevrolet Lumina sedan she was driving rolled into a stump in the home’s yard after she was shot.

The couple’s two sons, ages 3 and 4, got out of the car and ran into the home, Kirk said.

It was at that time police received the 911 call, he said.

The slaying was the result of a domestic dispute the couple had after Parrett arrived at the home with the boys so that Hunt could visit them, Kirk said. Police declined to release additional details on the dispute.

After shooting his girlfriend, Hunt made a call to a family member, telling that person what he had done and that he was going to kill himself, Kirk said. The relative pleaded with Hunt not to do anything to himself, police said.

Police said Parrett and Hunt had dated for about seven years and had an “on-and-off relationship.” Police had been called to that same Courtland Avenue home in December to stand by as Parrett said at the time she was moving out of the home.

Some of Parrett’s belongings were found in the car Monday, police said.

Both Parrett and Hunt were pronounced dead at the scene. The couple’s children are staying with other family members, police said.

Parrett’s death is the second Wabash County homicide in less than a year.

The last one was in June.

Jordan Johnson

Jordan Johnson

Man Killed 8-Year-Old Daughter, Then Himself

Thursday, January 31, 2008
Man Killed 8-Year-Old Daughter, Then Himself

Wife Found Bodies Two Hours After Argument, Authorities Say

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man shot and killed his 8-year-old daughter before fatally shooting himself in an east-side Indianapolis house Wednesday afternoon, police said. The bodies of Dwayne Johnson Jr., 28, and his daughter, Jordan Johnson, were found inside the house in the 3900 block of Fletcher Avenue, police said.

Police said the man had argued with his wife, Ginger, in the house at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, and that the wife left. Shortly after 5 p.m., the wife returned with her mother and found the bodies, according to police.

Johnson's wife called 911, and medics and officers who arrived determined the man and the child were dead, police said. Authorities said they believe the man and his daughter were the only ones inside the house when the shootings happened.

Relatives said Johnson and his wife were having marital problems. "I know that they were in the process of starting a divorce, and he didn't want (his wife) to have (their daughter)," Johnson's aunt Donna Allen told 6News' Renee Jameson. "I guess he just couldn't wait until it went through the court systems. He took his way out instead. Police said they had no record of any prior problems at the address where the shootings occurred.

Also this:

Friends and family remember girl shot by father

Updated: Feb 20, 2008 12:30 PM EST

A child holds a candle at the vigil for Jordan Johnson Saturday.

Richard Essex

Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - A candlelight vigil was held Saturday night for a young girl police say was shot and killed by her father.

Dwayne Johnson allegedly shot his eight-year-old daughter Jordan in the back bedroom of the family's home on Fletcher Avenue Wednesday before turning the gun on himself. The girl's mother, Ginger, found her husband and daughter dead when she returned home that afternoon.

Police say the Johnsons were on the verge of divorce. At the vigil remembering the little girl, friends, family and neighbors tried to come to grips with her death. One mother struggled to explain the death to her own child.

"She asked questions about how it happened, and I wasn't really sure how exactly how it happened, I just told her that her and her father died and they were shot," Rachel Patterson said. "I kinda left it at that. I don't want to kind of scare her with anything else."

Friends described Jordan as a little girl that never met a stranger.

"She was real nice and kind," one child said.

Ginger Johnson didn't attend the vigil for her late daughter, but her words were heard through a written note read by Cyndi Weisheit.

"She is her mommy's love and best friend," Weisheit read. "And now her baby's with angels and God. Now please remember her for what she was, a happy, loving, caring child who loved everyone with open arms, was a good student who loved to read and write."

The funeral for Jordan Johnson will be held on Monday.

Emily Johnson

Emily Johnson

Plane crash was suicide-homicide

Pilot reportedly told ex-wife she wouldn't see daughter again

March. 6, 2007

BEDFORD, Ind. - The man whose small plane slammed into his former mother-in-law’s house, killing him and his 8-year-old daughter, had told his ex-wife before the crash he had the girl “and you’re not going to get her,” the mother-in-law said Tuesday.

Eric Johnson, a student pilot who had soloed before, strapped daughter Emily into the passenger seat of a leased, single-engine Cessna on Monday morning. Less than two hours later, officials said, the plane smashed into the home of Vivian Pace, the girl’s grandmother.

Pace told reporters outside her damaged home Tuesday that Johnson called her daughter, Beth Johnson, by cell phone shortly before the crash.

He told his ex-wife: “I’ve got her, and you’re not going to get her,” she said.

Pace, who was home but wasn’t injured, said she believed the crash was deliberate.

“That was the only way he could hurt Beth. That was the only way he could get to her,” she said.

Andrew Todd Fox of the National Transportation Safety Board declined to say if Johnson, 47, said anything over the plane’s radio before the crash. The airport has no controller on duty, so no recording was available of any communication, he said.

The plane had already crashed but the occupants hadn’t been identified when Beth Johnson arrived at the Bedford Police Department to file a missing person report because her daughter hadn’t arrived at school that morning after spending the weekend with her father, police Maj. Dennis Parsley said Tuesday.

State and Bedford police were treating the case as a suicide and homicide, State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said. He said they had yet to find any notes indicating Johnson’s intentions with the flight, but the fact that the house was his ex-wife’s mother’s home raised serious questions.

“All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally,” Bursten said Tuesday.

The couple had divorced in November after 12 years of marriage, Pace said.

Fox said Tuesday that investigators were looking at whether the plane was functioning properly and hoped to have a preliminary report within a week.

Bedford is about 20 miles south of Bloomington in southern Indiana.

At Parkview Primary School in Bedford, where Emily was a first-grader, counselors were called in to help the students, Principal Sari Wood said Tuesday.

“We’re all grieving over this,” Wood said. She described Emily as a “dear little girl” who “got a kick out of things and enjoyed life.”

“She just was one of those really friendly, really open little kids,” Wood said.

Also:

Indiana State Police Sgt. Dave Bursten says indications are Johnson deliberately flew into his former mother-in-law's house, just a short distance from the airport. The witness accounts of how the craft crashed, the relationship of the crash site to the airport, and the fact that the house it hit belongs to Johnson's former mother-in-law all point to a deliberate act.

Vivian Pace was in her living room at the time.

"She heard the crash and observed that the plane had come through the house," said State Police Detective Mark Clephane.

According to Bedford police, Emily's mother came to the police department at 11:30 Monday morning to file a missing person report. Emily spent the weekend with her father and failed to show up fo school. Authorities quickly began piecing things together.

"It is just gut-wrenching to think about what was happening for that child just prior to the crash," said Sgt. Bursten.

Authorities say Beth and Eric Johnson divorced about a year ago and during that time Beth had a restraining order issued against her estranged husband. There were no threats and no apparent reasons why he might have targeted the mother-in-law's house.

Sam and Kimberly Perry, who had been attending an event at Beth's school, say news quickly spread through town.

"It's sad that they didn't reach out for somebody, and that they took their daughter's life in the process."

Local authorities say they're not aware that Johnson had any criminal history. They say no notes were found. Johnson worked for the Department of Natural Resources. He was the property manager for the Jackson-Washington Forest in southern Indiana.

Photos taken by next-door neighbor Greg Rollins show part of the plane's fuselage inside the home. Views from Chopper 13 show that the plane sliced into the bottom of a wall on the south side of the home.

Tuesday morning, the plane remained where it crashed. State troopers have secured the site until the FAA and NTSB arrive to start their investigation. (Read the ISP press release.)

Jason McGuffey

Friends, Family Rely On Faith After Tragic Murder-Suicide

POSTED: 8:09 am EST November 4, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS -- The crime was deeply personal for one family, but now a community is coping with a tragedy that ended in death for a 4-year-old boy and his father.Police said Edward McGuffey killed his son, Jason, before turning the gun on himself Wednesday night.

It was a crime that was completely unexpected for a normally quiet Geist-area community. Now, friends and family are relying on their faith to deal with an unthinkable tragedy.Church leaders said Jason McGuffey was a beautiful child with a great spirit, RTV6's Tanya Spencer reported. He attended Sunday School at East 91st Street Christian Church every week.

Balloons, flowers and other tokens of remembrance were placed outside the home on Beam Ridge Drive Thursday night. Friends and family wanted everyone to know that the two people who died in the home will be missed.Police said McGuffey sent dozens of e-mails Wednesday night, telling recipients that he had killed his son and was about to kill himself.

Neighbors said that although they knew McGuffey and his wife had recently separated, they never expected what happened. At the church the McGuffey family attended, people were completely shocked to learn of the murder-suicide."The people who we talked to in our congregation had absolutely no idea that any of this was on his mind," said Derek Duncan, senior pastor. "We feel a real burden that we wish we could have done more. But ... if you don't know what the need is, you can't meet that need.

"The church is offering counseling for surviving family members and those who knew the victims. Duncan said their only comfort is knowing the next life is peaceful." Jason is with Him and he's not afraid. He's not suffering and he's going to be OK," Duncan said. "Anybody that knows him just really loved him."

The funeral for Edward McGuffey is Saturday at 1 p.m. at Randall and Roberts Fishers Mortuary.Services for Jason McGuffey is Saturday at 11 a.m. at East 91st Street Christian Church.

Previous Stories:

• November 3, 2005: Murder-Suicide Shocks Community
• November 3, 2005: Man Kills Son, Self After E-mailing His Intentions

Eboni Richardson

Eboni Richardson

Baby's father, charged with murder, upset by relocation plan

Published August 29, 2009 by Post Tribune

by Jon Seidel

GARY, INDIANA -- Distraught because his 19-month-old daughter might move with her mother to Texas, Cordell Richardson took the girl and, according to police, said "nobody was going to take his daughter away" before shooting and killing her.

Richardson, 22, is charged with murder in the death of the girl, Eboni Richardson. Police said he shot her in downtown Gary on Thursday just as he was expected to turn her over to her uncle. Then he shot himself in the head.

A Methodist Hospitals spokeswoman declined to release information about Richardson's condition Friday afternoon at its Merrillville campus where he's hospitalized. He faces a maximum of 65 years in prison if convicted. The Lake County Prosecutor's Office said he is to be held in the county jail without bond.

In a charging affidavit filed in Lake County Superior Court on Friday, Gary police describe a frantic attempt by friends and family to return the girl to her mother, Shaina Hill, hours before the shooting.

Hill, of Gary, told police she gave Richardson permission to take the child, according to the affidavit.

However, Cpl. Gabrielle King said Richardson called her at 4 p.m. Thursday and said she would never see Eboni again if she didn't meet him at his house by 4:30 p.m.

She arrived with police, according to reports, but Richardson wasn't there. Richardson then called Hill and refused to return Eboni.

Hill went to the home of Jamell Campbell, Richardson's brother-in-law, and told him Richardson was refusing to give Eboni back. Campbell told police he called Richardson, who told him he didn't want to lose his daughter.

Campbell called Jerry Wheeler, Richardson's friend, and Thomas Murray, Richardson's brother. Wheeler said Richardson called him and said he had kidnapped Eboni, according to court documents.

After several phone calls, Richardson agreed to meet Campbell, Wheeler and Murray at Murray's grandfather's home in Gary. When they got there, Richardson called again and told them to meet him at Bennigan's restaurant, 500 E. 5th Ave. in Gary.

The men found Richardson's truck in the parking lot and parked next to it, police said. Richardson was seen sitting on the driver's side in the back seat, holding Eboni.

Campbell told police he was walking up to the truck, heard two gunshots and saw a flash from inside. Murray opened the back door and discovered that Richardson had shot himself in the head.

Wheeler opened the door on the other side, police said, and Eboni, who had a gunshot wound in her chest, fell into his arms. Wheeler took her, got back into the car he had arrived in, and tried to drive to the hospital with Murray. Campbell got into Richardson's truck to drive there, as well.

Police said the car carrying Eboni broke down at 4th Avenue and Monroe Street, and Campbell had to pick the men and the baby up on the way to the hospital.

Members of Eboni's family could not be reached Friday.

Reggie Johnson, Hill's neighbor, said Eboni was a happy baby who liked to dress up for church and had joined his grandchildren to play outside less than a month ago.

"They were all out here playing with the bubbles," Johnson said.

He described Hill as a "work-aholic" who took care of her grandmother. He said he never noticed a problem between her and Richardson.

"He loved that baby," Johnson said.

Contact Jon Seidel at 648-3068 or jseidel@post-trib.com.

Amy Meyer White

Wells County Man Charged in Wife's Death

Story Published: Oct 28, 2009 at 12:14 PM EDT 
 
WELLS COUNTY, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) - A Wells County man appeared in court Wednesday morning on charges that he shot and killed his estranged wife.

27-year-old Tyler White is charged with murder, and is tentatively scheduled to stand trial on April 20th.
Police arrested him Tuesday morning after they say they found him next to his wife's body at their Wells County home on County Road 100 South.

They claim he confessed.

Officials say he shot and killed 28-year-old Amy Meyer White while they were exchanging custody of their toddler.

The couple had been going through a divorce.  The child is now in the custody of relatives.

Amy Meyer White was the Assistant Cross-Country Coach at South Adams High School, and had been an Assistant Basketball Coach at the University of Saint Francis, where she had also played.

Mike Pries, Athletic Director for South Adams says Amy White has a big impact.

"She was a very positive and encouraging coach," explained Pries. " She was a good person. She was one of the best athletes that ever graduated from South Adams."

Meyer-White graduated from South Adams in 1999, and still remains the school's all-time leading scorer in basketball.

The results of an autopsy conducted on Tuesday are expected next week.

Josiah Shaw

Gary Police say that baby Josiah Shaw’s father is a person of interest in the case of his killing during a carjacking that left his mother — Kwana Shaw — on life support after a bullet ripped through her lung, reports Lori Caldwell for the Post-Tribune.

Kwana Shaw is in critical condition from a single gunshot wound that destroyed her lung.

Her 13-month-old son is dead, shot twice — in the face and groin — by a carjacker who left the woman’s car a few blocks from the abduction, Lt. Del Stout said Tuesday.

Police believe the child’s father may have left his job at Arcelor-Mittal’s Burns Harbor plant Monday night to meet Shaw, 29, of Schererville, about 7 p.m. at a friend’s house in the Lancaster Homes complex, 21st and Virginia.

Terry Bethel, also known as Terry Noel, 34, was arrested by Portage police and members of the Gary SWAT team shortly before midnight Monday at his Portage home. Police called him a “person of interest” in the shooting.

Mom sues boy's father, uncle

July 17, 2009

By Lori Caldwell, Post-Tribune staff writer

GARY--A civil lawsuit filed Thursday accuses young Josiah Shaw's father and uncle of conspiring to kill him and wound his mother.

Kwana Shaw, who was critically wounded in the Jan. 28, 2008, shooting, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Lake Superior Court seeking compensation for the loss of her 13-month-old son and the cost of her physical and emotional recovery.

"My goal is to get justice for Josiah Shaw and Kwana Shaw in any form available. We're looking for someone to be responsible," Miller attorney Darnail Lyles said.

The child's father, Terry Bethel, also known as Terry Noel, of Portage, had scheduled a visit with Josiah and knew where he and his mother would be that afternoon, the lawsuit states.

Kwana Shaw identified Bethel's brother, Joe Noel, also known as Sean Noel, in a photo line-up as the masked man who ran up to her outside her friend's Lancaster apartment, shot her and fled in her car with Josiah in the back seat.

Minutes later, police found the vehicle a few blocks away. Inside, Josiah had been shot in the face and groin and died a short time later.

The lawsuit alleges the brothers worked together to incapacitate Kwana and kidnap the boy "to batter and cause the death of Baby Shaw." Lyles notes nothing was taken from car during the theft.

No criminal charges have been filed. Detectives have presented a case to prosecutors who want more evidence.

"It sits in a stack of files gathering dust," Lyles said. "We're looking for someone to be responsible."

Merrillville attorney Scott L. King, representing Terry Bethel, said he was unaware of the lawsuit.

Days before Josiah was killed, Bethel had been ordered to begin paying child support. The child's family reported Bethel made threats to them.

Angie Warnock

Man arrested in stabbing death of estranged wife

June 23, 2009 by Bruce Smith | Star staff

BROWNSBURG, Ind. — In the last minutes of Father’s Day, police believe, a Brownsburg man violently stabbed his estranged wife to death.

The couple’s two daughters, ages 8 and 12, slept with their mother as the attack began before midnight Sunday. The girls ran and escaped injury, police said.

“Daddy stabbed Mommy,” one of the girls said in a 911 call after her father left early Monday. They hid in a closet about 20 minutes, police said.

Joseph L. Warnock, 41, is charged with murder in the death of Angela A. Warnock, 38. He was arrested about 9 p.m. Monday north of Brownsburg and taken to Hendricks County Jail in Danville.

Detectives said Angela Warnock was stabbed many times. Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Charles Morefield described injuries to her arms as “defensive wounds, like she tried to resist.”

“This looked like a crime of passion,” he said.

A judge had ordered Joseph Warnock to stay away from the family home in the 10400 block of Splendor Way in the Eagle Crossing subdivision, about a half-mile west of 56th Street and Raceway Road on the Hendricks-Marion county line.

Shortly before midnight, Warnock parked in a church lot about a quarter-mile from the home, walked through farm fields and broke in the patio door, investigators believe. He stabbed his wife with a steak knife, a weapon he apparently took to the house, detectives said.

Police and their dogs tracked Warnock to the church lot but didn’t find him during a search around Eagle Creek Park and nearby areas on the Northwestside of Indianapolis.

Sheriff’s officials said a caller reported seeing a man matching Warnock’s description sitting next to a utility box in the 10500 block of East County Road 600 North — about a quarter-mile from the Warnock home.

An off-duty officer working night security at Eagle Crossing arrested Warnock without incident, sheriff’s officials said.

“Our officers recognized him immediately,” Morefield said. “He just put his hands in the air and gave up.”

Warnock was shirtless and wearing shorts and tennis shoes. He was dirty and had light scratches on his body — the kind that might come from running through twigs, Morefield said.

Joseph Warnock filed for divorce Friday, the same day a court hearing discussed extending a protective order for Angela Warnock and the girls.

In a court document, Angela Warnock had asked for the family home. She had planned to take the daughters to live with her family in Hawaii within a few days.

Joseph Warnock had asked the court to prevent her from taking the children from Indiana, according to another document.

Angela Warnock had filed for the protective order in May. Neighbors said Joseph Warnock jogged through the Eagle Crossing neighborhood in recent days, though the protective order required him to stay away.

Angela Warnock — “Angie” to friends — worked at a Brownsburg beauty salon. Friends said she was active in her girls’ education, and both parents enjoyed sports with their children. Joseph Warnock sells tanning beds, and he coached a daughter’s basketball team.

Both graduated from Ben Davis High School. Joseph Warnock ran cross country and graduated in 1986. Angela Warnock, a 1988 grad, participated in track and field.

Tonya Earley

Ex-boyfriend shot woman in front of their kids, then killed himself

November 10, 2009

Police said a woman was fatally shot by her ex-boyfriend Tuesday at a Michigan City area school bus stop while their children looked on.

About 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, police were called to LaPorte County Road 1000 North and County Road 425 West, just east of Michigan City, where officers found 30-year-old Tonya Earley dead from a single gunshot, police said. The shot was fired either as the bus was pulling up or just seconds prior to the bus arriving.

LaPorte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer said Earley's body was found lying in the street beside her car and the children were still in the vehicle when she was shot.

"That's something they're going to remember the rest of their lives. It's a very unfortunate situation," Mollenhauer said.

About 10 minutes later, police found her ex-boyfriend -- 41-year-old David Streeting -- dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a vehicle about a half-mile north from where Earley was shot, police said.

Investigators also learned that an acquaintance of Earley was with her at the time of the shooting and he fled when she was shot. Police said he suffered an injury while leaving the scene of the shooting. Police did not release his name, the type of injury he suffered, his condition or how he knew Earley.

Earley and Streeting, both of LaPorte County, were the biological parents of the children, ages 8 and 10, police said.

Michele Pokuta, who lives on County Road 1000 North, was driving to her job in New Buffalo, Mich., and saw the body at the crime scene. She said police had not arrived yet and Earley was lying on her back with one arm draped over her chest.

The school bus was stopped and the driver was on his cell phone.

"I was pretty shaken up. At first, I couldn't think straight," Pokuta said.

Because the shooter already had fled the scene when officers arrived, authorities placed Springfield Elementary School -- two miles away -- under a lockdown, police said.

Mollenhauer said Earley lived at Green Acres Trailer Park and drove a short distance to her parents' home, where the couple's children were residing. She picked them up and took them to the bus stop to see them off to school.

Because the couple used to live together, Mollenhauer said Streeting likely knew exactly when to show up at the bus stop.

"When she pulled up, he pulled up," Mollenhauer said.

According to court records, a hearing was held for the couple Sept. 9 and an order was issued governing child visitation and child support.

Mollenhauer said preliminary information from the investigation indicates there was a protective order against Streeting.

Michigan City school officials did not return calls regarding the lockdown or students who might have been of the school bus.

Stephanie Gillum

Stephanie Gillum

Man Questioned In Woman's Death Says He's Innocent

Indy Resident Denies Making Threat Detailed In Restraining Order

August 13, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis man says police have questioned him hard about the shooting death of a Hamilton County woman he dated, but he insists he doesn't know who killed her.

Willie Dumes, 30, who was prohibited by a court from contacting Stephanie Gillum just weeks before she was found dead Wednesday in a Carmel park, said Friday that he would "give my life before hers any day."

"I love her too much. I did not kill Stephanie. I didn't," Dumes told RTV6's Vicki Duncan. Dumes says he is the father of Gillum's 5-month-old son.

Gillum, 20, of Fishers, was found dead in her Jeep Grand Cherokee at Hazel Landing Park in Carmel. She was shot twice in the head; police said they don't know who killed her.

Though police haven't named Dumes as a suspect, they questioned him about her death in part because her mother accused him in July of threatening to "kill anyone" who prevented him from taking the infant.

In an application for a protective order, Stephanie's mother, Jan Gillum -- who has custody of the infant -- alleged that Dumes "told me he was going to take the child … and kill anyone who got in his way."

The order was issued in July, prohibiting Dumes from contacting Stephanie Gillum, the infant, Jan Gillum, and Jan Gillum's husband.

Dumes, who was arrested last year on suspicion that he hit Stephanie Gillum, denied making a threat.

"I never called Jan and threatened her. Never," Dumes said.

Dumes said police tried to get him to confess to the slaying.

"They said, 'Willie, we know you killed her. Just tell us why you killed her,' " Dumes said. "I told them over and over, 'I did not kill her.' "

Stephanie Gillum's death was Carmel's first homicide since 1998, police said.

UPDATE:

On an early Monday morning Carmel Police arrested Willie J. Dumes, 30, of Indianapolis, on a warrant for the murder of Stephanie Gillum. Dumes was charged with one count of Murder and one count of being a Habitual Offender in connection with the homicide of Stephanie Gillum. Gillum had been found dead in her vehicle in a parking at a local park.

Detective Brad Hedrick, Carmel Police Department, asked the City of Carmel GIS to create "a map" showing the jury where the victim was found, who she was with before the murder, and the time and location of the crime.
cell tower map

The first maps the Police Department requested were relatively basic: aerial photography of the investigation site, and points where evidence was found. As the investigation into the murder progressed, however, Detective Brad Hedrick approached Carmel GIS with more evidence to map.

The Detective had obtained detailed information on the victim's cell phone. Cell phones are constantly communicating with a network, sending pings to the nearest transmission tower, which enables calls to be routed correctly. As a cell phone moves, its call is handed off from tower to tower. The carrier keeps records of which towers the phone contacted and when, tracking its movement to within a few hundred yards.

Using the cell phone records and other evidence, Carmel GIS was able to create a digital "trail" of the victim's location throughout the fatal evening. The detailed map produced for the trial was one of many, many maps created for the murder investigation.
Results

The cell phone map was used throughout the murder investigation and criminal trial. The Prosecutor and members of the jury later commented to Detective Hedrick, "The map presented case evidence in a clear, concise manner. It created a clear picture of the crime events, and we were able to focus on the visual display."

Willie Dumes was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Gillum, and sentenced to prison.