Mary Alice Simonson

20-Year-Old Man Arrested In Great Aunt's Slaying

July 8, 2010

GREENSBURG, Ind. -- A man was arrested Thursday in his great aunt's slaying after he called police and told them he had "just murdered someone."Greensburg Police Chief Brian Heaton said Mary Alice Simonson, 76, was found dead in her bed in a mobile home in the 2000 block of Moscow Road, on the northwest side of the city, 6News' Renee Jameson reported.

Heaton said James LaFramboise, 20, called police at about 9 a.m. and he'd cut his aunt's throat. "He walked down to the entrance of the yard here and he called the police and said, 'Send somebody over, I killed my aunt," said LaFramboise's mother, Nicola Smith, 59.

LaFramboise was arrested without incident on a preliminary charge of murder, police said. "He was in close proximity to this trailer. He was taken into custody. He has given a statement," said Detective Bill Meyerrose.

LaFramboise and his parents lived in the mobile home with Simonson. Smith said she doesn't know why her son would act out so violently. "I talked to him and I asked him, 'Son, what happened?' And he said, 'Mom I don't know, I just don't know,' and he fell apart," Smith said. "At this point, he says he's not sure what happened, why it happened. All he knows is that he remembers the fact that she's gone. I mean, he loved her to death."

LaFramboise was being held in the Decatur County Jail on Thursday evening.

Christina Santana

Christina Santana

Man Charged With Murder In Alleged Suicide Pact

Prosecutor: Murder Charge More Appropriate Than Assisted-Suicide Charge

POSTED: 11:16 am EDT May 13, 2009

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- A man was charged with murder Wednesday after he followed through with what he described as a suicide pact with his fiancee, police said.Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said James Adam Betts, 24, told police differing stories, but Cooper said that Betts contended he and Christina Santana, 29, had agreed to kill themselves and had written each other a note that expressed that desire.

Betts said that he and Santana had sex in a barn on his grandfather's farm on May 6 before he, a former butcher at a Marsh grocery store, used a butcher knife to cut her neck. Betts originally told police that Santana had cut her own throat.

"Miss Santana was supposed to go first, then Mr. Betts was supposed to complete the act," said Johnson County Sheriff's Department Maj. Steve Byerly. "He told everybody -- the EMT people, fire people, detectives -- that she cut her neck."After he made several cuts but saw that Santana wasn't dying quickly enough and that the knife wasn't "sharp enough to do the job," he tried to snap her neck by shaking her violently, Johnson County Sheriff's Detective Kirby Cochran said.

Betts told police that he held Santana for about two hours and fell asleep. When he woke up, he decided he should tell his grandfather what had happened. Emergency medical responders took Santana to Methodist Hospital, where she died.

Betts was originally arrested on a charge of assisting suicide, but later admitted to police he had killed Santana and was charged with murder." He wanted to truly get what happened off his chest. That's when he admitted it was him alone, he provided the knife, but it was him alone that made the cuts and took her life," Byerly said.

The prosecutor said the murder charge is justified, whether Santana truly wanted to kill herself or not."If a person actually performs the act and kills another person, whether the person wants to commit suicide or not, Indiana law is clear that is defined as murder," Cooper said.

Police said the couple had apparently considered suicide after Santana lost custody of her children and Betts was despondent about his break up with another woman.


See Christina's MySpace page here.

Rosalba Silvana Ricchio

Friend held in northern Indiana woman's slaying

KENTLAND — A Jasper County woman whose body was found buried on an abandoned Newton County farm died after her throat was cut by a shovel.

That’s according to Newton County Prosecutor Ed Barce, whose office has filed felony charges against three men in the death of Rosalba Silvana (Sylvia) Ricchio, 54.

What we believe happened is that they pushed her to the ground and held a shovel to her throat, he said. Someone then stepped on the shovel. It was a horrible death.

As of Friday, Ricchio’s sometimes-tenant, Aaron Flynn, 26, of Sumava Heights is the only person who’s been charged with murder in connection with her death. Chris Henderson, 30, and Matthew Henderson, 23, who are cousins, are each charged with assisting a criminal, a Class C felony.brbrThe Hendersons are accused of helping Flynn hide Ricchio’s body. All three appeared Friday morning before a Newton County judge and entered pleas of not guilty, Barce said. Flynn and Matthew Henderson were appointed public defenders.

Christopher Henderson is being represented by Morocco attorney Daniel Blaney, a longtime friend of Henderson’s family. "I’ve known his mother and father for a number of years. Right now, I do not know a lot of details about the case," Blaney said Friday. "We’re going to do our own investigation and see what can be done to get Chris out of jail."

Ricchio’s body was found this past Sunday on abandoned farm property in northern Newton County. The Wheatfield Township woman had been missing since March 9. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department began investigating on March 11 after finding Ricchio’s home in disarray.

Charges were filed in Newton County because investigators believe Ricchio was killed on or near the farm property where her body was buried. Information from Flynn led investigators to the shallow grave off Newton County Road 75 West. Barce said investigators are still trying to determine when Ricchio was killed.

Alexis Oesterle

 Alexis Oesterle

Teenage Victim's Step-Father Arrested In Connection with Her Death

November 4, 2009

ROCKPORT, IN - Indiana State Police investigators have ruled a 15-year-old Rockport, Indiana girl's death murder. And her step father is jailed Wednesday, charged with the crime.

Friends and those who knew her describe 15-year-old Alexis Oesterle as a fun-loving, beautiful young girl.  Wearing t-shirts and displaying signs in her memory, they gathered at a Wednesday afternoon news conference to confirm what many already knew.

"State Police Investigators arrested Ryan Lee Shelby for the murder of his step-daughter, Alexis Oesterle," said ISP Sergeant Chad Dick." The preliminary cause of death is loss of blood from a wound in Alexis' neck area."

"She was my best friend," Sabrina Winkler says.

Winkler and other friends who spent Sunday afternoon with Oesterle say she seemed extremely happy, and never suspected what would happen after saying goodbye to her that night.

"Her and him didn't get along. He seemed really nice but I had a weird feeling when I was around him," Winkler tells NEWS 25.

A neighborhood friend says he didn't suspect a thing

"He was always nice to me. They were always really quiet as a family. We didn't know much of them," says neighbor, Hunter Wetzel.

Investigators say Shelby is currently their only suspect and will not elaborate on a motive.

They're crediting the arrest to Deputy Jason Dunsworth, who says he conducted a full search because something in the house just didn't seem right the night Shelby reported Oesterle missing.

"Due to his extra steps of investigating the full residence, the body was discovered. Had he not done that, probably, the body would have been disposed of," Spencer County Prosecutor Dan Wilkinson says.

The search turned out to be the key to the investigation and the news that broke the hearts of Alexis Oesterle's friends and family.

Shelby will be arraigned in Spencer County Court Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

Investigators say that even though he is in custody, there is still more investigating to be done.