Joseph Snow

Man suspected in Parke Co. murder arrested

Aug 14, 2011 8:43 PM EDT

PARKE COUNTY - Police in western Indiana are investigating a homicide early Saturday morning.  Jeremy Musall was arrested on preliminary charges of Murder, Rape, Criminal Confinement, and Intimidation.

Police say Musall broke into the home of Joseph Snow and a woman in her mid-20's around 1:30 a.m. near Rocky Fork Lake in southeastern Parke County. Musall reportedly killed Snow, then took the body and the female resident's 20-month-old child into his vehicle, making the woman follow him into Putnam County.

Parke County Sheriff Mike Eslinger told television station WTWO in Terre Haute that police believe the woman found a cell phone and called police. Deputies pursued Musall, but he eluded arrest.

Working on a tip from the woman that Musall had family in the Cloverdale area, police located the suspect at his mother's home and arrested him. Snow's body was recovered in another part of Putnam County.

WTWO says the child was not harmed and that police believe Musall was a jealous former boyfriend of the woman.

UPDATE:

PARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - Saturday's murder case in Parke County has been resolved and the suspect is behind bars.

Saturday night the details were just beginning to come out from the murder. Saturday News 10 went to the crime scene and spoke with officials in Parke County.  The violent scene began at 5639 South one-thousand County Road East. Police say at that home, Jeremy Musall murdered Joseph Snow.

They also say during the altercation Musall also raped a woman inside the home. He then took Snow's body and the woman's twenty month old little girl and drove towards Putnam County.  Police said the woman called police while following Musall and gave them directions to his destination.

Police from Parke and Putnam counties caught up to Musall and arrested him.  The twenty month old child was not harmed and was returned to her mother.  The Parke county sheriff's office says the cooperation with the other law enforcement teams was crucial in catching Musall.

"I think everybody worked well together and obviously right at two hours we had him in custody. We’re very pleased that the twenty-month old was unharmed It could have gotten even worse. We're very grateful it ended the way it did,” Parke County Chief Deputy Bill Todd said.

The sheriff's office said they're charging Musall with Murder, Rape, Criminal confinement, and intimidation.  We're told those charges could change as the investigation continues.

Carmen Ramos

Shooter Sentenced to 40 years in Prison for Killing Kids' Mom

Updated: Monday, 11 Jul 2011, 6:15 PM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Thomas Manjarez was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for the April 2010 killing of Carmen Ramos, the mother of his three children.

In June, Thomas Manjarez pleaded guilty to the death of Carmen Ramos.

Manjarez, 36, shot Ramos in April of 2010 and police in Texas arrested him in January.

Ramos, 33, was found face down in a pool of blood with multiple gun shot wounds inside her home at 1307 Huestis Avenue in Fort Wayne.

She had called police to her home multiple times to file charges for domestic assault, and had a protective order against Manjarez prior to the murder. But that order expired in early April, just days before the murder.

It was emotional in the Allen County courtroom Monday. Denise Spila, Ramos' sister, was there with more family members looking for justice. Spila thinks Manjarez deserved more time behind bars.

"I wish he got more time," said Spila. "I would have loved for him to be put away for life. Because she (Ramos) is never coming back so why should he have a life?"

Manjarez' mother Doreen Ramirez was also at the sentencing. She thinks her son got what he deserved.

"He's not a monster. He just made a bad decision," said Ramirez. "They will never forget, but God-willing they can forgive."

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors changed his charge to voluntary manslaughter.

Manjarez will also spend an additional 10 years on probation.

Roy L. Orman

Man, woman face murder charges as bodies are identified

Police: Gunshot wounds likely the cause of deaths

June 24, 2011

SALEM — The two bodies found on a property near Salem have been preliminarily identified, Indiana State Police said Friday.

Also Friday, Timothy R. Orman, 25, and Tammy M. Spengler, 23, who reside at different addresses in Palmyra, were charged with two counts of murder, two counts of aiding, inducing or causing murder and class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy for violating a protective order.

Although positive identifications have not been made due to the condition of the bodies, the victims have been tentatively identified as Orman’s father and uncle — Timothy M. Orman, 54, of 7600 Rosebud Road, and Roy L. Orman, 48, of 7598 Rosebud Road, an ISP press release says.

ISP also said Friday that the preliminary cause of death is gunshot wounds to both victims, although additional tests must be run to confirm the official cause. At least one neighbor reported hearing gunshots Sunday night.

The bodies were found in an outbuilding at 7600 Rosebud Road after the Washington County Sheriff’s Department received a phone call shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday reporting the location of two deceased people. The state police have not identified who placed the phone call.

Spengler was arrested for murder after the bodies were located. Orman was arrested earlier in the day Wednesday for criminal trespass after a vehicle became stuck on a property in the 6400 block of Phillip Schmidt Road in Floyds Knobs.

At about 11:30 a.m., two men called the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department reporting a suspicious man on their property. Orman told the men his vehicle got stuck. He was covered in mud and not wearing shoes. The witnesses said he was “not making sense.”

An officer arrived and said Orman was not able to stand still as he described how they got stuck in the mud. He said they got lost driving to Greenville and attempted to turn around on the property.

He said he left Spengler, who was driving, near the vehicle when he went to get help. Spengler had left the scene when police arrived. The men who owned the property said they wanted Orman to be arrested for criminal trespass. He was transported to the Floyd County Jail.

The vehicle, a 1978 blue and white flatbed pickup truck registered to Roy Orman, was found in a ditch about 75 to 100 yards from the roadway.

Police impounded the vehicle.


See post for dear brother Timothy M. Orman.

Timothy M. Orman

Salem Murder Victims Tentatively Identified

Man, Woman Arrested On Murder Charges

June 24, 2011

SALEM, IN (WAVE) - The two people suspected of killing two Salem, Indiana men made their initial appearance in a Washington County Circuit courtroom on Friday.

So far, officials have only been able to tentatively identify the victims as Timothy M. Orman, and Roy L. Orman, both of Salem. The Washington County Coroner's Office and the Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office continue to work on making positive identifications.

26-year-old Timothy R. Orman and 24-year-old Tammy M. Spengler are accused of murdering the two men. Timothy M. is Timothy R.'s father and Roy is his uncle.

According to the probable cause affidavit Spengler called 9-1-1 Wednesday to turn herself in. She said the bodies of the two men were in an outbuilding on W. Rosebud Road and had been there for about two weeks.

"I guess after they had had the building open the buzzards started," said neighbor Meredith Baker. "They had gotten the smell...and that was it. I had to get out of here for awhile."

The preliminary cause of death for both victims is gunshot wounds. Additional tests are being done to determine the official cause of death.

"I always thought that Timmy could be dangerous," said Baker. "I though that boy was a problem."

Baker said she remembers hearing a gunshot from their house about two weeks before police discovered their bodies, but it's not unusual to hear gunshots in that neighborhood and Roy hunted.

The time of death for both victims has still not been determined.


See post for dear brother Roy L. Orman.

Jacqueline Baxter

Restraining Order Filed Day Woman Died

June 22, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indianapolis Metropolitan Police homicide detectives have identified the woman found dead in her home Tuesday as 54-year-old Jacqueline Baxter.

Officers got the call around 10 a.m. Tuesday and rushed to the 9700 block of East 86th Street where they found Baxter’s body. Officers are calling the incident a death investigation.

However, court documents obtained by 24-Hour News 8 show that Baxter said she was in an abusive relationship with her husband Michael Sparks. A restraining order against Sparks was filed on the same day police found Baxter’s body.

In the court document, Baxter says her husband abused her and said, “If I don't live here, you don't either. To death do us part.” She also said she thought her husband was using drugs.

Police say Sparks is not yet a person of interest in the case and has not been arrested.

Officers are waiting on the results of an autopsy before they know exactly how Baxter died.

Obituary:

Jacqueline passed away in June 2011. Jacqueline was last known to be living in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Visitation: Saturday, July 2, 2011 10:00 am - 12:00 Noon Trinity C.M.E. Church.Service: Saturday, July 2, 2011 12:00 Noon Trinity C.M.E. Church Interment: Floral Park Cemetery.


(We are still watching for any further word on autopsy results, etc, and will post anything when it is publicized.  It has been frustrating not seeing anything yet, but we assume this is to keep details of the case quiet as authorities work on it.)

Shirlen Dyson

Daughter Speaks Out After Father Kills Mother

Shirlen Dyson was just seconds away from her mother's house in Noblesville when her estraged husband, Vincent Dyson, shot and killed her.

October 19, 2010

Noblesville, Ind. — Shirlen Dyson was just seconds away from her mother's house in Noblesville when her estraged husband, Vincent Dyson, shot and killed her.

Police say he had followed her from her job near downtown Indianapolis and when she arrived in the subdivison, he ended her life. Then, minutes later, he killed himself near I-465 and Meridian Street in the middle of the evening rush hour.

In one day, Sheena Dyson lost both of her parents.  "I'm not angry but I am hurt. And it's a hurt I don't wish on anybody," she told Fox59's Kara Brooks.

Shirlen and Vincent had broken up 20 years ago but they reunited about year ago and got married. They lived in a northwest side neighborhood where neighbors knew something just wasn't right back in August.  "He heard some knocking in the garage and he heard her cry for help. And so when he heard that he called the police," said neighbor Michelle Perkins.

Sheena also knew there was trouble in her parent's relationship. She was very close with her mother and they talked often.  "After he hit her, she told me 'Sheena I'm scared.' I said, 'Mom you got to get out of this, you know.' She was like, 'I don't know how," said Sheena.  "Once he hit her she just finally got the courage to leave. He was acting crazy."

Shirlen got a protective order against Vincent but neighbors still saw him lurking around.  "{He} went real fast passed and then went on around. So I think he had been stalking her," said Michelle.  So she moved in with her mother to get away but he still found her.  "My momma is gone and that's hard to believe because I was just on the phone with her," said Sheena.

Sheena Dyson says her mother had a strong faith and described her as someone who always found the best in somebody.

Police: Noblesville, Carmel shootings were murder-suicide

Police now say two deadly shootings that occurred Monday in Noblesville and Carmel are connected. They're calling the incidents murder-suicide.

Marion County court records show a pending divorce and allegations of abuse leading up to the murder-suicide on Monday in Noblesville. Police say that 46-year-old Shirlen Dyson was shot and killed in her car by her husband, 46-year-old Vincent Dyson, in a Noblesville neighborhood near Verizon Wireless Music Center.

Police believe Vincent Dyson ran her off the road and fired two rounds into the vehicle, hitting Shirlen Dyson in the chest.  A short time later on I-465 in Carmel, Fishers police stopped a vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle given by witnesses at the Noblesville shooting scene. Police say as they approached the car, Vincent Dyson shot himself in the head.

Shirlen Dyson filed a burglary report with Indianapolis Metro Police on August 11th after the home she shared with her husband was burglarized. That was two days after officers were called to the home for a domestic disturbance.

According to court records, Shirlen Dyson filed for a protective order the following week saying that her husband struck her and that she planned to file for divorce. The judge granted the protective order in September.prohibiting Vincent Dyson from calling or contacting his wife. Investigators are zeroing in on what was apparently a stormy relationship.  "What the situation was between the two of them and then what potentially led up to this incident," said Lt. Bruce Barnes, Noblesville Police Department.

According to court records, when Shirlen Dyson filed for protective orders, she also requested an eviction notice forcing her husband to leave the home they shared.

Jessica Berg

Jessica Berg

Victim sought restraining order day before slaying

April 10, 2010

By Daniel Human, Kokomo Tribune staff writer

Kokomo — One of the women found dead Friday in a Courtland Avenue home placed a restraining order the day before against the man who police arrested in connection with the triple homicide investigation.

Lt. Don Whitehead, a spokesman for the Kokomo Police Department, confirmed this afternoon he was aware of the restraining order, but he had no further details.

According to online court records, Jessica Berg, 28, Gas City, filed on Thursday a petition for an order of protection against Jeremy M. Blanchard, 30, Gas City.

Berg, along with her mother, Rebecca Berg, 57, and David McPike, 62, were found dead Friday morning in McPike’s home in the 1500 block of Courtland Avenue.

Kokomo police sent out a nationwide announcement that the department was looking for Blanchard as a “person of interest” in the investigation. Kentucky State Police arrested him in London, Ky., later that night.

Whitehead would not comment on Blanchard’s association with any of the victims.

The Howard County coroner was conducting an autopsy of the victims this afternoon. Results likely won’t be available until early Sunday, Whitehead said.

Also see posts for Rebecca Berg and David McPike.

David McPike

David McPike

Victims Identified In Kokomo Triple Slaying

Police Release New Information In Killings

POSTED: 1:47 pm EDT April 10, 2010

KOKOMO, Ind. -- The identities of three people who were found slain in a Kokomo home on Friday morning were released on Saturday as police provided some additional details of the investigation.

The bodies of David McPike, 62, of Kokomo, Rebecca Berg, 57, and Jessica Berg, 28, both of Gas City, were found in a home in the 1500 block of South Courtland Avenue.Kokomo police Lt. Don Whitehead said Rebecca and Jessica were in Kokomo to attend a family member’s funeral and had spent the night in McPike’s home.

The bodies were found by someone who came to pick the three victims up for the funeral, police said. Jeremy Blanchard, 30, of Gas City, who police called a person of interest in the case, was taken into custody in London, Ky., on Friday night.

Police did not release information about how the victims died, but an autopsy was being conducted on Saturday, with results expected on Sunday. The bodies were found in different rooms of the home.

Blanchard was held on warrants for a probation violation and intimidation, but he was not arrested in connection with the slayings. According to Indiana Department of Correction records, Blanchard served four years in prison for a battery conviction in 1996, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison for several counts of attempted burglary and burglary in 2000. He was released in September 2009.

Neighbors told 6News that McPike had lived in the home for quite some time, and had recently retired."(He was a) super nice guy. Something you wouldn't expect to happen to him," said neighbor Lee Newcome.

Blanchard was the ex-boyfriend of Jessica Berg, officials said. A restraining order had been filed against him on Thursday in Grant County. Police asked anyone with information about the case to call Kokomo police at 765-456-7017 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.


Also see posts for Jessica Berg and Rebecca Berg.

Rebecca Berg

Three Bodies Found Inside Kokomo Home

A person of interest in connection with a triple homicide in Kokomo was picked up late Friday in Kentucky.

Heather MacWilliams, Fox59.com

4:17 PM EDT, April 9, 2010

KOKOMO, IN - UPDATE: 30 year-old Jeremy Blanchard of Gas City, Indiana was picked up late Friday in London, Kentucky.

Police in Kokomo are investigating a triple homicide at 1523 South Courtland Street.

A family member found the bodies of a man and two women early Friday morning. The family member was on the way to a funeral and had arrived at the home to pick up the three victims.

Kokomo Police Saturday identified the victims as 62-year-old David McPike, 57-year-old Rebecca Berg, and 28-year-old Jessica Berg.

Rebecca Berg and her daughter Jessica had come to Kokomo from Gas City to attend a family member's funeral and were spending the night at Mr. McPike's residence on Thursday.

Obituary:

April 14, 2010

Rebecca S. Berg

Aug. 28, 1952 - April 9, 2010

— Rebecca S. Berg, 57, Gas City, died on Friday, April 9, 2010, in Kokomo. Ms. Berg was born in Kokomo on Aug. 28, 1952, to the late Wilfred Eric and Charline (Mills) Harvey.

She was a 1970 graduate of Haworth High School and received a completion certificate from business school. Ms. Berg lived in Grant County for the past 30 years and worked in the radiology department for Marion General Hospital. She was passionate about exercise and loved dogs, especially her golden retriever, Truman. In her leisure time, she enjoyed spending time with her fiance, David McPike.

She is survived by son, Eric P. (Mary Condes) Berg, West Lafayette; grandson, Alexander J. Fritch; and brother, Randy Lee (Tia) Harvey, Fort Wayne.

In addition to her parents, Ms. Berg was preceded in death by her daughter, Jessica A. Berg, and her fiance, David McPike.

Services are 3 p.m. Saturday at Owen-Weilert-Duncan Funeral Home, Gas City Chapel, 200 N. 7th St., with Pastor Bill Campbell officiating. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Gas City.

Friends may leave online condolences for the family at www.owenweilertduncan.com.

Also see posts for Jessica Berg and David McPike.

Cynthia Achenbach

Cynthia Achenbach

Man Killed Wife In Driveway

Kids In House At Time; Suspect Surrenders After 2-Hour Standoff

POSTED: 2:32 pm EDT April 23, 2008

ANDERSON, Ind. -- A man fatally shot his wife in his driveway while their children were nearby Wednesday, then engaged in a two-hour standoff with police at his Anderson home before surrendering, authorities said.

Investigators believe Michael Achenbach shot Cynthia Achenbach, 24, at about 12:30 p.m. outside his house in the 2000 block of Charles Street on Anderson's southeast side, authorities said.Someone called police, and officers found the woman's body in the driveway. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Michael Achenbach's mother and brother and the couple's two children -- one of whom is 1 year old -- were at the home when the shooting happened, police said. His relatives took the children from the house after the shooting, police said.Officers surrounded the house, in which Michael Achenbach, 34, stayed alone for two hours, armed with a shotgun, authorities said.

Police were able to talk to Michael Achenbach by phone, and at about 2:55 p.m., he exited the house and lay down on the front lawn. Video from 6News' helicopter shows officers marching to the lawn and handcuffing him before leading him to a police car."He was on the line with our hostage negotiator right up until the point where he handcuffed him and put him under arrest," Anderson police Detective Joel Sandefur told 6News' Jennifer Carmack.

Michael Achenbach

Information on the other child's age wasn't immediately available.The shooting came more than two months after Michael Achenbach was arrested on suspicion of cutting his wife at Mounds Mall during an argument over a cell phone.

She had received a protective order against him last month and was not living at the Charles Street house when she was shot, police said.Michael Achenbach was charged with criminal confinement and battery in connection with the Feb. 8 incident and was awaiting a resolution to that case.

Achenbach was being held Wednesday evening in the Madison County jail on a murder charge, authorities said.

Rebecca Payne

Rebecca Payne

Suspect In Double Homicide Held On Stalking Charge

POSTED: 6:53 am EDT April 7, 2007

CARMEL, Ind. -- The man police said is the primary suspect in the slayings of his estranged wife and her boyfriend is being held without bond on a stalking charge.The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department said Toby Payne, 31, was taken into custody at his parents' home in Fountain County early Saturday morning.

Payne faces one count of felony stalking and was being held without bond in connection with a probation violation stemming from a previous felony conviction in Boone County.

Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter released few details about the Thursday deaths of Rebecca Payne, 32, and George Benner, 35, in Payne's home in the 11000 block of Central Avenue, near Carmel."We are still trying to build a timeline of communication that he had with his deceased wife up to and including the day of the murder," Carter said.

Toby Payne was initially held after turning himself in about two hours after the deaths, but was uncooperative in the investigation and was subsequently released Friday, police said.

Police declined to reveal the manner in which the victims died, but said they were investigating the deaths as homicides.

Rebecca Payne filed for a protective order against her husband in February and had recently filed for divorce, 6News reported. The couple's 6-year-old son was not home at the time of the killings.The victim in the stalking case was Rebecca Payne, police said.

Police pleaded for any information anyone might have that could help them in their investigation.

Previous Stories:

• April 6, 2007: Man Released After Questioning In Double Homicide
• April 6, 2007: 2 Found Dead Near Carmel; Estranged Husband Detained

Also see post for dear friend George Benner.

George Benner

George Benner

Man Convicted Of Carmel Murder

Man Involved In Death Of Woman, Companion

POSTED: 5:33 pm EDT April 26, 2008

CARMEL, Ind. -- A man was convicted of murder for his role in allegedly plotting with a woman's estranged husband and another man to murder her and a companion.Juan C. Lucio, 23, was convicted Friday by a Hamilton Superior Court jury of two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He faces possible life in prison without parole when he is sentenced Monday.

Two other men still face trial in the killings of Rebecca Payne, 32, and George Benner, 35, of Fowler, who were found shot to death in April 2007 in the Carmel duplex where Payne lived.Payne's estranged husband, Toby K. Payne, 31, Indianapolis, and Anthony Delarosa, 24, Zionsville, also face murder charges. Their trial is set for Oct. 6.

According to testimony by a Hamilton County Sheriff's Department detective, Lucio said Toby Payne tried to recruit him to kill his wife while both men were in jail and later gave him a key to her home. But Lucio denied involvement in the actual shootings.

Defense attorney Dan Henke said during final arguments that Lucio only knew there was going to be a robbery, and found out later the victims were shot to death."He didn't know those people were going to be murdered," Henke said. "No one was supposed to die."

In a videotaped statement, Lucio admitted he was in a car with Delarosa on the night of the killings. He said Delarosa got out of the car near Rebecca Payne's home and when he returned moments later he indicated he had shot people.

Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp called Lucio a conspirator in the murder of two innocent people."He's shown no remorse for what's happened to George Benner or Rebecca Payne, he's only concerned for what could happen to him," she told jurors. "I ask you to convict this man as the cold, calculating murderer that he is."

Leerkamp said Lucio was removed from the courtroom after he used vulgar language to Judge Steve Nation after the jury left the courtroom late Friday afternoon.

Previous Stories:

• April 19, 2007: Police: Suspect Says Accomplice Killed 2 Near Carmel
• April 16, 2007: 4 Arraigned In Carmel-Area Killings
• April 15, 2007: 4 Arrests Made Days After Carmel-Area Double Homicide
• April 7, 2007: Suspect In Double Homicide Held On Stalking Charge
• April 6, 2007: Man Released After Questioning In Double Homicide
• April 6, 2007: 2 Found Dead Near Carmel; Estranged Husband Detained

Also see post for dear friend Rebecca Payne.

Robert Andrews

Robert Andrews

Wife charged with murder in shooting, fire

Dottie Andrews set fire in garage before shooting estranged husband and his dog, police documents say

June 23, 2009

NASHVILLE — Dottie Andrews told a police detective that she shot her estranged husband once with a .25-caliber handgun early Friday morning.

Then, when he continued breathing, she shot him again.

Tuesday afternoon, Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver charged the 40-year-old woman with murder, arson and burglary.

She is accused of setting a fire at the Brown County home she once shared with her husband, breaking into the residence and then killing 44-year-old Robert Andrews as he slept.

She then put the man’s dog up on the bed and shot it dead as well.

The accused killer told police she intended to then kill herself, but the gun jammed.

From her bed at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where she is recovering from burns and smoke inhalation, she told Indiana State Police Detective Jeff Deckard she tried to carry the dog from the house, was overcome by the fire and then ran out and called 911.

After the blaze was extinguished, a sheriff’s deputy found her lying in a three-sided chicken coop near the house at 7880 Whispering Pines Drive in northern Brown County.

She had filed for divorce April 7.

She also was granted a restraining order against her husband in May, alleging he had been threatening toward her in the past.

A notebook found inside her red Chevrolet Blazer at the scene of the shooting was open to a page with the following words written on it: “I will see you in hell. The things you have done to me, not only cheating on me, but beating me up and raped me too, you sick freak.”

According to Deckard’s account of interviews with Dottie Andrews, the couple’s 20-year marriage had ended badly.

They had been living apart for more than 18 months.

She told Deckard she drove to the Whispering Pines subdivision about three miles north of Helmsburg last Thursday evening and parked down the road from her former home. She watched her husband grill his dinner and drink beer outside. She waited for an hour after the lights had gone out, then broke a window and entered the residence.

She told Deckard she looked at her husband’s cell phone and discovered that hours earlier he had called “some people he had promised that he wouldn’t communicate with,” according to an affidavit filed in the case. “‘She said this made her furious.”

She went to the garage and set a fire, then returned to the house.

“She said she went into Robert’s bedroom where he was asleep and shot Robert with a .25-caliber handgun,” the affidavit said. “He continued to breathe, and she shot him again.”

Her relatives said she had been living in Indianapolis the past few months with her sister.

They reported that Robert Andrews had been calling and threatening her two or three times a day, in violation of the protective order granted in Brown Circuit Court.

Dottie Andrews remains hospitalized in police custody. Oliver said she will be transported to the Brown County Jail in Nashville and held without bond when she is released.

She was listed in critical condition last Friday. Tuesday, hospital officials would not release information about her condition.

Oliver said she is expected to recover and return to face the charges against her.

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.)

Amenda Yang

Amenda Yang

Man Charged In Beating Death Of Estranged Wife

Michael Yang Says He Didn't Kill Amenda Yang

POSTED: 10:15 am EDT May 11, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Lawrence man was charged Monday in the death of his estranged wife after he adamantly denied killing her as he headed into court. Prosecutors filed a formal murder charge against Michael Yang, 53, in the beating death of Amenda Yang, 43 Monday afternoon.Yang told police that he was having lunch with a coworker at the time of his wife's killing, but that alibi did not hold up, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Investigators said they also recovered a watch, coat and tennis shoes that Michael Yang was wearing on the day of the killing that all tested positive for blood.Still, Yang adamantly denied having any part in his wife's death outside court Monday morning."I did not kill my wife. I want people to know that I did not commit that crime," said Yang, who is on suicide watch at the Marion County Jail. "I love my family and I miss my children."Four of Amenda Yang's six children came home from school to find that their mother had been bludgeoned to death at the Lawrence home in the 4300 block of Clinton Street on May 6, prompting a horrifying 911 call from one of the children, between ages 11 and 17."My mom is probably dead. Somebody hit her in the head. She is bleeding all over. Mom, can you hear me? Mom! Mom!" one of the children said."Can you imagine coming home to find your mother laying in a pool of blood in the floor?" said Marion County Chief Deputy Prosecutor David Wyser. "It's absolutely horrifying."Police said the couple were married but had separated last month.Yang is scheduled for an initial hearing on Tuesday. He is a convicted sex offender who served time for attempted rape in 1998. He is being held without bond at the Marion County Jail.

Previous Stories:

• May 8, 2009: GPS To Help Track Accused Abusers
• May 8, 2009: Husband Arrested In Woman's Beating Death
• May 7, 2009: Children Find Mother Beaten To Death In Home
• May 7, 2009: Woman Found Beaten To Death

Amy Nose

Amy Nose

Police: Upland man kills wife, shoots self

Paul Bryon Nose II held police at bay in his mother-in-law's home for much of Thursday.

By NICK WERNER and DOUGLAS WALKER • • March 26, 2010

UPLAND -- Police say an Upland man fatally shot his wife in her mother's home Thursday morning, then held police at bay for hours before shooting himself.

When members of an Indiana State Police SWAT team stormed the house -- at 644 W. North St. -- about 5:30 p.m., they found Paul Bryon Nose II, 42, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head.

He died as preparations were being made to fly him by medical helicopter to a Fort Wayne hospital.

Authorities also found the body of Nose's 39-year-old wife, Amy, and believe she was killed by her husband shortly after 7 a.m., when callers to 911 reported hearing shots coming from the house.

Related

• Upland Standoff

Police were uncertain when Paul Nose shot himself, although his communication with authorities and text messages with family members ended about 1:30 p.m. He was found in a hallway, while his wife's body was found in a bathroom.

Upland police arrived at the house soon after receiving the reports of shots fired, but were "unsuccessful" in establishing "personal contact" with any occupants, according to an Indiana State Police press release.

Grant County sheriff's deputies and state police also came to the scene. Eventually officers "made verbal communication" with Paul Nose, the release said, but they were unable to persuade him to surrender.

State police are leading the investigation of the shootings. No shots were fired by officers as they entered the home, ISP Sgt. Rod Russell said.

Authorities said the domestic problems between the couple had been ongoing for several weeks, with Amy Nose spending some time in a women's shelter. She filed for divorce on Feb. 11; that case was still pending in Grant Superior Court at the time of her death.

On Wednesday night, Amy Nose filed a police report that alleged some act of intimidation by her husband.

"I don't know if that's what triggered this today," Grant County Sheriff Darrell Himelick said.

Amy Nose had been granted a protective order when she filed the divorce suit last month, but the pair had mutual contact recently and might have been trying to reconcile their differences, authorities said.

"You can only do so much," Himelick said.

Court records reflect the couple lived for several years in the 100 block of North Lake Street in Upland. Married for 20 years, they were the parents of two daughters.

Paul Nose was convicted of burglary in Grant County in 1990.

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.

April Wills

April Wills

Police: Girl Witnessed Mother's Death At Hands Of Ex-Husband

Police: Girl, Mother Abducted By Ex-Husband

POSTED: 7:47 am EDT July 22, 2008

Patricia Shirley wishes her daughter had never fallen so hard for such a dangerous man.

"All of us always told her to leave him alone," said Shirley, 73. "He's done threatened her I don't know how many times. . . . She's had black eyes, bruises all over."

The violence exploded one final time Tuesday morning, when police said Carl Wills went to the apartment of his ex-wife, April, and killed her boyfriend. He then dragged her and her 13-year-old daughter into his car, leading police on a rush-hour chase. Along the way, he fatally shot April as her daughter watched from the backseat. Once police forced him to a stop, he put the .44-caliber Magnum to his head and pulled the trigger.

The couple, who had no children together, first married in 2005 and divorced soon after. They remarried in 2007 and divorced a second time in March.

During the past year, April, 30, had turned to the courts for protective orders after Carl slashed her tire and punched her in the face, according to police reports. Carl, 44, was never convicted in those incidents, but he had a volatile criminal past. He was acquitted by a jury in a 1982 slaying, only to spend seven years in prison for killing a man in 1990.

Still, family members said they continued to see each other.

Only 12 hours before the shootings, April visited Carl at his home in the 2600 block of North Alabama Street, said his mother, Christina Wills, 67, who also lives there. April stayed for about an hour chatting with them, said Christina, the only person present during the visit who is still alive.

The next morning, April Wills' 13-year-old daughter awoke just after 7 to the sound of a gunshot.

That was the sound, police say, of Carl Wills entering the apartment in the 5000 block of Winterberry Drive and killing her mother's boyfriend, John L. Cunningham III, 30.

The girl went downstairs to find Carl beating her mother. April's three other children were staying with relatives.

Nearby residents watched as Carl tried to force April into his car.

"I don't think I've ever seen anybody beat a woman that violently," said April's neighbor, Faye Miles, who rushed down to the parking lot with phone in hand, dialing 911.Miles said she saw April jump out of the rolling car and run back inside the apartment, but Carl ran after her.

"He drug her out by her hair, and that's when I seen him put the gun to her head and say, 'Do you want to die right now?' "

When the panicked teen ran out of the house toward her mother, Miles said, Carl forced her into the car, too, and drove off, the door still open. Police spotted the 1985 Buick Skylark near 58th Street and Georgetown Road and began to pursue him, but Carl refused to stop.

As police chased him, he made a cell phone call to his 26-year-old daughter, Laquinta Meeks.

"He just kept saying, 'It's over,' " Meeks said. "He said, 'I got five police cars behind me. It's over.' "

Sometime during the chase, Carl shot and killed April, said Sgt. Matthew Mount, an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman. Then, as police closed in on his car near 25th and Meridian streets at 7:28 a.m., he shot himself.

The 13-year-old climbed out of the back seat and was grabbed by officers. Now she and April's other three children are staying with their grandmother, Shirley.

April and Carl were only two weeks into their second marriage when a judge granted her a nonviolent contact protective order in August 2007. The order allowed the two to have contact but barred violence, an arrangement that underscored the two sides of their relationship. Even after their divorce in March, April kept in touch with her ex-husband -- all the way up until the night before he killed her.

Ann DeLaney, executive director of the Julian Center, a domestic violence shelter on the Near Northside, said it is common for victims of domestic violence to maintain contact with those who hurt them.

"They think if they just talk some sense into him, he'd let it go," DeLaney said. "They don't realize that the risk is death."

Cunningham and April Wills were the 14th and 15th homicide victims this month. Indianapolis has not seen killing on this pace since the summer of 2006, a near-record year for homicides.

Police suspect at least two other killings this month stemmed from domestic violence.

Dede Martin, a friend of Carl Wills, collapses in grief near 25th and Pennsylvania streets. Her friend Beverly Lamb tries to console her. - SAM RICHE / The Star

Carl Wills killed himself at the end of the police chase, officials say. - Provided by IMPD

See copy of protective order here.


Also see post for dear friend John L. Cunningham III.

John L. Cunningham III

(I don't have much on dear John and found little, if someone could please comment about him that would be great).

Appeals court calls non-violent protective orders defective

For years, advocates concerned with domestic violence have argued that court-issued "nonviolent contact orders" provide no meaningful protection to victims.

And now the courts also have taken a step in that direction.

A state appeals court has deemed one such order "defective," an opinion advocates hope will encourage judges to take stronger measures to protect potential victims of domestic abuse.

"It's obviously a yellow flag," said Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg. "We will all read it, and we will follow it."

When abuse victims or those who fear for their safety seek protection from a known person, judges typically have issued a common protective order that bars any contact. But sometimes they issue nonviolent orders that allow abusers to see their victims -- as long as they don't hurt them.

The practice made news last summer when an Indianapolis man under such an order shot and killed his ex-wife, April Wills, in front of her 13-year-old daughter.

The appellate opinion this month does not stop judges from allowing contact between victim and abuser, said Seth Lahn, who directs the Protective Order Project at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. But it discourages that practice in cases where there is past abuse. * * *

Judges use nonviolent contact orders primarily in cases where some contact is deemed necessary for reasons such as counseling or parenting arrangements.

But domestic violence advocates say the orders provide an easy way out for judges who basically allow any contact as long as it's not violent when they should make the effort to set strict rules for such contact.

"The judge has to say, 'I'm granting a protective order. That means no showing up on her doorstep, no phone calls, no texts, no nothing. So while we're here and while we're in court, let's talk about parenting,' " said Kerry Hyatt Blomquist, legal director for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "That takes time."

Lahn said the ruling means "the court should lean on the other side and say, 'We're going to prohibit all contact except for what is necessary to exchange the child for visitation.' "

Blomquist's group, which filed a friend of the court brief in the case, argues that the orders often are misunderstood and give victims a false sense of security.

"If the parties could have nonviolent contact," Blomquist said, "she wouldn't be asking the court for protection."

Blomquist said DeVone Moore, the Marion County woman whose nonviolent contact order the appeals court deemed defective, believed the measure barred visits from her husband, who had abused her.

Still, the Marion Superior Court judge who gave April Wills a nonviolent protective order against her ex-husband does not believe any kind of order would have kept her alive. He said he was in the process of making permanent an emergency protective order prohibiting contact when Wills interrupted him, saying she needed to see her ex-husband for parenting reasons.

"I get angry when people suggest that it was a defective order that led to (Wills' death)," said Marion Superior Court Judge David Certo. "He's a murderer."

In the two years before Certo handed down the nonviolent protective order in the fall of 2007, Carl Wills had slashed Wills' tire, kicked in her door and punched her in the face. She never pressed charges. On July 22, 2008, Carl Wills killed Wills' boyfriend, John L. Cunningham III, then dragged Wills and her 13-year-old daughter into his car. Minutes later, he killed April as the girl watched. As police approached, Carl Wills fatally shot himself.

Certo, who also handed down the nonviolent contact order in the Moore case, said he issues 30 to 50 protective orders per day and two or three nonviolent contact orders a month. He said he appreciates the appeals court's guidance but will continue to evaluate each case individually and hand down nonviolent contact orders when he thinks they're appropriate.

Link to briefs in the case here.

Also see post for dear friend April Wills.

Melissa Patrick

One Dead, Two Targeted in DeKalb Rampage

Auburn woman slain, Waterloo couple's home damaged by automobile.

By Aaron Organ
January 2, 2010

DeKalb County police are unraveling what appears to be a “love rectangle” that left an Auburn woman dead Friday after her boyfriend – a city man – went on an “intent-to-kill” rampage that targeted two others.

Police involvement began midday Friday, when DeKalb County and Waterloo police were called to a home on the south side of Waterloo just after noon. There, police found a Jeep Patriot crashed inside the home's foyer, a man inside the vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds to the leg and six children and a couple waiting for police outside.

The man in the vehicle – Ronnie R. Jones, 39, of Fort Wayne – immediately surrendered to police, and told officers he had just killed his girlfriend in her Auburn home and came to the Waterloo home of his estranged wife and her boyfriend with the intent to do the same to them, according to a release from the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department.

Auburn police then went to the home of Jones' girlfriend, 32-year-old Melissa Patrick, where officers found the woman dead of gunshot wounds.

Back in Waterloo, police attempting to decipher the incident discovered that Jones, after allegedly killing Patrick in Auburn, drove to the home of Sara Grimm and Jason Patrick – Melissa Patrick's estranged husband. Once there, Jones parked his vehicle, walked to the door of the home and rang the doorbell. When he received no answer, witnesses said Jones opened fire into the home's front door from a semiautomatic handgun, police said.

From inside, Patrick returned fire unto Jones with a 20-gauge shotgun, striking Jones in the leg at least once, police said.

Jones then retreated to his SUV, and as Patrick fired another round, witnesses told police he drove the vehicle through the home's front door.

As Patrick, Grimm and six children exited the home, Jones ran off to a neighboring property, where Waterloo police arrested him.

Patrick suffered a minor cut on the hand in the chaos; Grimm and the couple's children were uninjured.

Jones was taken to Parkview Hospital, where he was treated for the gunshot wound to his leg and released into police custody.

He is being held in the DeKalb County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder.

Police investigators learned Melissa and Jason Patrick were going through a divorce, as were Grimm and Jones, the release said.

Jason Patrick and Grimm each had protective orders filed against Jones out of DeKalb County, and Jones had similar documents filed against Grimm out of DeKalb and Allen Counties and against Jason Patrick out of DeKalb County.

Police do not have a motive.

“We don't know what fueled it or what the relationship between Jones or Patrick was,” said Sgt. Ron Galaviz of the Indiana State Police. “I don't have any gauge on what that was.”

The case remains an open investigation by the Indiana State Police, Waterloo Police, Auburn Police and DeKalb County Sheriff Departments along with the DeKalb County Prosecutor's and Coroner's Offices.