Darlene E. Day

Darlene E. Day

Kinslow arrested for May murder, rape

Kinslow was also arrested for rape in 2002

Updated: Wednesday, 18 Aug 2010, 6:21 PM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - On Tuesday detectives with the Fort Wayne Police Department arrested Edward Kinslow, 50, in connection with the May 18, 2010 murder of Darlene Day. At approximately 3:35 pm. officers located the suspect, Edward Kinslow, at his home on 4606 E. Washington Blvd. Kinslow was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Allen County Jail on charges of murder, felony murder, and rape.

Fort Wayne Police said they were tipped off when friends of Day called the department.

"A friend of Miss Day contacted the department because they had not seen her in a few days and they were concerned," said Raquel Foster with the Fort Wayne Police Department.

The coroner said that Day died from blunt force trauma to the head. The investigation revealed that Kinslow and the victim were long term acquaintances. Kinslow had been identified as a suspect early in the investigation and was brought in for questioning. Through further investigation, detectives were able to develop probable cause to make the arrest.

Kinslow had also been arrested for rape in July of 2002. He had been watching television with a woman. When the woman tried to leave, he forced her to have oral sex with him and then intercourse. Kinslow told her that he would kill her if she didn’t do what he said.

The 50-year-old was released from prison May 9, 2010, just nine days before police say he raped and killed Day. Kinslow was scheduled to be released in August of 2010, but got out on parole early. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections, Kinslow was also released from prison August 7, 2009. But he was sent back because of a parole violation.

This investigation is ongoing with the Fort Wayne Police Department, Allen County Coroner’s Office and Allen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Mariah Dawson

Toddler died at hands of abusive mother

July 8, 2010

CROWN POINT | After her toddler's death last September, Maya Levee Willis allegedly told the child's former baby sitter the 19-month-old succumbed to a seizure.

But in pursuing murder charges against the 31-year-old Willis, police claim a substance found in the dent of a wall in Willis' apartment matches the child's DNA profile.

Lake County prosecutors charged Willis, of East Chicago, on Tuesday with murder, two counts of battery and four counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to a seven-page probable cause affidavit filed in Lake Superior Court, Willis is charged with repeatedly abusing and finally killing her daughter, Mariah Dawson, one of four children born to Willis by as many men.

The court document depicts Mariah as an unwanted child who, in her resemblance to her father, drew her mother's rage.

An autopsy report shows the child died of head injuries and blunt force trauma to the body. Contributing factors included vaginal and rectal injuries consistent with sexual abuse, according to the pathologist's report. Multiple old scars covered her body.

East Chicago Police Chief Gus Flores said Wednesday the allegations are among the worst to have crossed his desk.

Flores described Willis as almost 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds.

"This is among the saddest, most disgusting cases I've ever read," Flores said of the documents prepared to launch the case.

"I can't imagine the hell this poor child lived through," Flores said about the child's injuries. "She appears to have been old enough to know what was happening to her."

The child's condition came to light when police were called Sept. 30, 2009, to the emergency room at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where the child was declared dead, the court documents show.

The child is described as covered with bruises, scars and marks all over her body, including a big bump on the back of her head, a laceration to the lower lip and a cut and bleeding gum line.

Further examinations revealed vaginal swelling, anal trauma and a distended abdomen.

In statements to police, Willis said the child fell in a hallway and began crying. Willis said she later noticed the child's left side was "paralyzed looking." The child appeared to stop breathing in the car as she drove to the hospital, she told authorities.

Willis denied causing any of the fresh injuries, though she is alleged to have admitted to disciplining the child by "popping her on the hands and legs with a plastic spaghetti or pasta scooper and with a short piece of belt."

Police recovered two belts with similar markings to ones found on Mariah's back, the court documents state.

Willis is alleged to have explained burn scars on the child's back and head to a set of hot curlers falling on the child.

Willis later changed her story by telling investigators the child's fatal injury stemmed from a fall from a bunk bed.

Willis' remaining three children are in state custody, according to court documents.

Kaylin Doggendorf

Kaylin Doggendorf

Kaylin Doggendorf, 14, Strangled to Death

17-Year-Old Joshua Wright Charged with Murder

March 23, 2010

Seventeen-year-old Joshua Wright has confessed to breaking into Kaylin's home, then raping and strangling her before leaving her body behind a barn across the street. There's still no reason why. See update after the jump...

Kaylin Michelle Doggendorf was in her room in Pierceton, Indiana last Wednesday night when her dad looked in on her. A police search of her phone and computer revealed that she'd stayed up till 2 a.m. arguing with a boy.

But when her parents went to raise her for school the next morning, she was gone.

Police didn't know if she'd left on her own or if she'd been kidnapped. There was no sign of forced entry and her dad, a light sleeper, says he would have heard something had there been a struggle.

It wouldn't be until Friday night that they had their answer. Kaylin's body was found less than a mile from her home. She'd been strangled to death.

Police have charged Joshua Wright, 17, with the murder. Though they're not releasing many details, it's safe to assume he was the boy she argued with Wednesday evening. Her parents say Kaylin didn't much like Wright, and the two weren't dating, so there's no immediate explanation as to why he would kill her.

Police aren't saying how they found the body or why they suspect Wright to be the killer.

UPDATE: Joshua Wright has confessed to raping and murdering Kaylin.

We still don't know why he did it, but at least we know how. Wright says he broke into Kaylin's home, which had to be sometime between 2 a.m. -- after she stopped talking and texting someone on the phone -- and 6 a.m., when her parents went to wake her for school and found her missing.

He's confessed to police that he forcibly raped and strangled her. Afterward, he placed her body behind a barn across the street. Since this is a rural part of Indiana, this could have been some distance away.

Though the timeline is still sketchy, we presume Wright was the person Kaylin spent the evening arguing with on the phone. He reportedly led police to Kaylin's body, and is now charged with rape and murder. He's almost assuredly headed to adult court.


To see the Facebook tribute page for dear Kaylin, please click here.

Kathleen Vargas

Indianapolis Man Faces Murder, Rape Charges

"She was visibly shaking. She was crying, in a lot of pain, stated that he had just sexually assaulted her. He used an object to assault her, and that's what we believe caused much of the internal damage."

August 27, 2009

Indianapolis - Police are investigating an attack on an 80-year-old woman that they believe killed her. They say a man almost half her age sexually assaulted her and may soon be facing murder charges.

It happened on the east side in the 1000 block of North Kealing Avenue on July 18th.

Police say Kathleen Vargas was attacked in her own home about a month ago by her 46-year-old boyfriend. They say the sexual assault was so brutal that she was unable to recover. Vargas died Wednesday night.

On July 18th, police arrested 46-year-old Monte Ayres for attempted murder, aggravated battery and rape. They say he violently assaulted 80-year-old Kathleen Vargas.

"The injuries she sustained during the sexual attack may in fact be the cause of her death," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell.

Ayres may now be charged with Vargas' murder.

"He's in jail now and hopefully won't see daylight again," said Lt. Duhamell.

Police say Vargas went across the street to try to escape Ayres. That's where a neighbor said he found her crying and shaking violently.

"I heard this lady yell, hollering 'mister.' She was leaned up against the railing. I asked her what was going on and she said, 'He beat me up,'" said the neighbor.

Police say Ayres tried to flee the scene but they caught up with him in a back alley.

"He resisted officers and fought them. He has a past for that - resisting and drinking. This isn't the first run in officers have had with him. In fact they've been called to that residence on a few other occasions involving him and each time he's been very violent," said Lt. Duhamell.

Neighbors say Ayres was Vargas' live-in boyfriend. He lived on and off with the 80-year-old woman for a few years.

"From my understanding I believe she hired him to cut her grass one day and that's kind of how they met," said neighbor Darrell Powers.

"She had at times spoken to me about some problems. She felt she made a big mistake by letting him move in. I said, 'Well, if you're having problems you should have him removed,'" said Powers.

Police say they removed Ayres several times from her home at her request. But neighbors say she always took him back in.

"By some of the things she said I think she felt that maybe he would improve and she didn't want to throw him out on the street. He didn't have a place to go. So I think the nice part of her is what kept him around," Powers said.

Murder charges are pending the results of her autopsy. Ayres is still behind bars on a $200,000 bond.