Erin Stanley

Erin Stanley

911 Tape Of First Of 2 Sister Deaths Released

Mother Told Dispatcher Teen Had Not Been Ill

September 17, 2007

RICHMOND, Ind. -- The first of two teenage sisters who died within days of each other was found by her boyfriend and was unresponsive and laboring to breathe, the women's mother told a 911 dispatcher.

Erin Stanley, 19, died after being found unresponsive in her parents' home Sept. 1, and her 18-year-old sister, Kelly, was found dead in the same Centerville home six days later.

Little information has been released on the deaths, though the death of Erin Stanley has been ruled a homicide by Wayne County officials.

Lonny Stanley called 911 at 5:15 a.m. Sept. 1, seeking help for her daughter Erin Stanley, according to a recording of the conversation that lasted about eight minutes.

"My daughter, she's unresponsive, her eyes are halfway open, she's blue," the mother told the 911 operator in flat, calm tones.

When asked whether the teen was breathing, she responded, "She's trying." She also told the dispatcher that the teen had not been ill, but that they'd had a stressful day.

Erin Stanley died that day. She was the mother of a young girl.

The 911 recording was released Monday by the Wayne County prosecutor's office, which had withheld the information for two weeks, saying the tape was part of the investigation. County attorney Ron Cross said the Sept. 7 emergency call in the death of Kelly Stanley was not recorded because of an equipment failure at the 911 dispatch center.

Kelly Stanley had helped detectives in their investigation into her sister's death. That included helping them gain access "to various computer sites," according to an affidavit for a search warrant for her parents' home issued Sept. 7.

Police found Kelly Stanley's body Sept. 7 after being called to her parents' home in Centerville, a town of some 2,500 people about 60 miles east of Indianapolis. A cell phone was found ringing and beeping lying near her hand, the document said.

The document said that both deaths appeared to have been caused by "similar action on the part of another party." Neither young woman had any apparent medical conditions that would have caused a sudden death, the document said.

A coroner has ruled the older woman's death a homicide, but authorities have revealed nothing about how she was slain or who might have killed her. An autopsy on Kelly Stanley was inconclusive, with authorities awaiting toxicology test results.

The Wayne County prosecutor's office released the affidavit Friday following a dispute with the Palladium-Item of Richmond over whether certain records related to the deaths should be made public or were confidential investigative records.

Police searched the home and the family car looking for DNA and other trace evidence, the document said. The search warrant also included a computer used by Erin and Kelly Stanley in the home, the hard drive and other memory devices that the document said may "contain significant evidence as to the perpetrator of these offenses."

Shipman said his office is staying tight-lipped about their investigation for fear of tipping off anyone involved in the case about evidence they have collected.

Rodney Anderson

Rodney Anderson

165 Years For Man Who Murdered Mother, 2 Children

Foster Brothers Found Dead On Couch, Porch

POSTED: 5:04 pm EDT April 8, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis man who fatally stabbed his mother and two foster brothers was sentenced Wednesday to 165 years in prison.

Sean Wright, 36, killed his mother, Flossie Wright, 60, and her two foster children, Demonte Norton, 10, and Rodney Anderson, 16, in September 2007.

Flossie Wright was found slain in her bed. Norton was found on the couch where he slept and Anderson was found on the porch of a nearby home.

Wright was found guilty of three counts of murder in March.

"This gruesome crime not only destroyed a family, but impacted a community," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi in a release Wednesday. "The sentence was well deserved."

Obituary:

Rodney Anderson Demonte Norton Flossie Williams Wright Rodney Anderson, 16, Indianapolis, died September 16, 2007. He was a student at Lawrence North High School. He is survived by brothers, Kevin Anderson and DePaul Anderson, and sister, Kiara Anderson. Burial: New Crown Cemetery. Demonte Norton, 10, Indianapolis, died September 16, 2007. He was a student at IPS #92. Survivors include brother, Kenyon Williams; sisters, Ayisha Norton, Lois Norton, and Kenya Williams. Burial: Crown Hill Cemetery. Flossie Williams Wright, 60, Indianapolis, died September 16, 2007. She was a Certified Nurse Assistant at Methodist Hospital and a member of Murchinson Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Survivors include daughter, Vonda Wright; sons, Alonzo Joseph Wright III (Latasha), Sean Vadeil Wright; stepson, Christopher Wright; brothers, Willie James Williams, James Williams, Jr., Steven Allen Williams, Sr. (Valeria); sisters, Genette Henard, Sarah Ann Williams, Mattie C. Williams, Hattie Moore-Bradley, Ida Mae Stanley (Vincent); seven grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 22 at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, with calling there from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, September 21. Additional calling Saturday, September 22 from 10 to 11 a.m. at the church. Burial: New Crown Cemetery. Final arrangements entrusted to Lavenia, Smith & Summers Home for Funerals.


See posts for dear foster mother Flossie Wright here and foster brother Demonte Norton here.

Flossie Wright

Neighbor Distraught After Woman, Foster Kids Killed

Wounded Teen Got To Neighbor's Porch Before Dying

POSTED: 8:27 pm EDT September 17, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS -- Deandra Wilkins broke into tears Monday when she recalled seeing a teen dying on her porch after a stabbing that also killed his foster mother and another boy.

"At least he tried to make it over here," a tearful Wilkins said of 16-year-old Rodney Anderson, who police said was stabbed at the home where he lived across the street.

Police said they believe Sean V. Wright stabbed his mother, Flossie Wright, and her two foster children -- Anderson and Demonte Norton, 10 -- early Sunday at Flossie Wright's home in the 4500 block of Shady Lane on the city's northeast side.

Police arrested Sean Wright about two hours later after an intensive search. He had been stabbed in the chest, and he was being treated Monday at Wishard Memorial Hospital.

After the attack, a naked and severely bleeding Anderson left his foster home, crossed the street and got onto Wilkins' porch.

Wilkins, a friend of Flossie Wright, said she heard Anderson plead for help.

"I heard, 'Help, help.' Our porch light doesn't work, so I couldn't see," Wilkins recalled to 6News' Cheryl Jackson.

Someone called police, and when an officer arrived, Wilkins opened her door and saw Anderson. At first, Wilkins didn't recognize him and thought he might be Flossie Wright, not yet knowing what had happened across the street.

"I just started screaming, 'Is it my neighbor? Is it my neighbor?'" Wilkins said.

Wilkins said she eventually recognized Anderson and was overwhelmed.

"I started crying, saying, 'Oh no, oh no, I can't believe it. I can't believe it.' And then the cop started trying to get him to talk," she said.

Police said that when an officer asked Anderson who had stabbed him, he answered, "Sean" and "Uncle."

Authorities said Flossie Wright's foster children knew Sean Wright as "Uncle."

Flossie Wright and Norton were pronounced dead in their home. Anderson was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Sean Wright is expected to be taken to the Marion County Jail after he is released from Wishard.

Wilkins was grieving her friend Monday.

"I don't understand all this, but all I know is she's in heaven," Wilkins said.


See posts for dear foster children Rodney Anderson here and Demonte Norton here.

Demonte Norton

Demonte Norton

Son accused of killing mom, two foster kids

Indianapolis - The son of an east side Indianapolis woman found stabbed to death is under arrest for her murder. 35-year-old Sean V. Wright is also charged in the deaths of the woman's other two children.

It happened in the 4500 block of Shady Lane - that's near 46th Street and Arlington on September 16, 2007.

Wright, is under arrest for the murder of his mother and two foster children that were in her care. One of the children is ten-year-old Demonte Norton, the son of Desmond White.

"I just know my son was yelling for me. He was trying to help that woman. I know he was. That is the type of kid he is," said White.

White carries a pictures of his son, one when his was nine months old and another from when he was about three years old. He last saw him five years ago.

White lost custody in 2002. He says the boy's mother surrendered him to state foster care soon after.

He told us he got the shocking news Sunday. "I get a call on my way down here. I get a call from my sisters that 'last night your son was killed.'"

White said he was hoping to get his son back before year's end. "I was trying to get myself together, you know, get a job. Get a home established, a room for him so he could back home."

Indianapolis Metro Police arrested the murder suspect Wright Sunday afternoon after a tip from a minister who told them Wright wanted to meet with him. According to police Wright had parked his car at a school on Sloan Avenue and walked a few blocks south. Instead of meeting his minister, a handful of police were waiting.

Wright is suspected of stabbing all three victims. Police found Flossie Wright and Demonte in the house. Stabbed and bleeding, 16-year-old Rodney Anderson came out of the front door of the Shady Lane home and went towards 46th Street where he collapsed. He managed to make it across the street and started banging on the front door that home and collapsed on that front porch. That's where police found him.

He was rushed to Wishard Hospital but it was too late. His wounds were too severe.

Neighbors say they never suspected any trouble the Wright house.

"She had a devil in her house," said White.

They never expected Flossie and her beloved children were in danger.

Also:

Classmates Raise $8,000 For Tombstone For Slain Boy

 INDIANAPOLIS -- Students upset that the grave of a 10-year-old classmate slain last fall didn't have a headstone have raised more than $8,000 to pay for a marker.

Demonte Norton's classmates held a Valentine's Day dance to help raise the $8,000, which is far more than the $1,600 needed to buy a marker for Norton's grave.

Officials from Indianapolis Public School No. 83 might use the extra money to buy a marker for Norton's foster brother, 16-year-old Rodney Anderson, who also was killed in the September attack at their foster mother's home.


See posts for dear foster mother Flossie Wright here and foster brother Rodney Anderson here.

John Hood

Bloomington murder suspect arrested

Police: Woman shot husband in chest

POSTED AT 12:00 AM ON Aug. 24, 2007

A Bloomington man was shot and murdered Thursday night after a reported domestic dispute.

John Hood, 63, owner of Putter’s Park and Johnny Joe’s Pub in Ellettsville, was shot once in the chest, said Monroe County Det. Brad Swain.

Police believe his wife, Juanita, 52, shot him.

At about 11:30 p.m. the Monroe County Sheriff’s department received a 911 call from Hood’s daughter, saying Juanita Hood had told her she shot John Hood, Monroe County Det. Brad Swain said.

Monroe County dispatched state troopers to their house where emergency personnel determined John Hood to be dead at the scene, Swain said. After interviewing Juanita Hood, officers arrested her. She now faces preliminary charges of murder.

Swain said the sheriff’s department will be pursuing other issues to try and get a clearer picture of what happened.

Juanita Hood was transported to the Monroe County Jail and is being held without bond.

Update:

Juanita Hood sentenced to probation in shooting death of her husband

March 8, 2011

Juanita Hood endured years of abuse at the hands of her husband and was so frightened on an August night in 2007 that she shot him as he grabbed her by the throat....

Camdon Adam Huffman

Premature Baby Dies After Mother was Beaten and Gave Birth

Dear Camdon Adam Huffman was born August 28, 2007, prematurely, and died after mother was severely beaten by boyfriend.  She was from Madison County, Indiana.

(No other information could be found).

Shadonna D. Cheatham

Boyfriend Charged in Woman's Slaying

Police: Man shot her, held gun to his mouth

July 26, 2007

CROWN POINT | Prosecutors on Thursday charged Shadonna Cheatham's boyfriend with fatally shooting her.  Dia Nelson, 33, of Gary, faces 65 years in prison if convicted of murder.

Court records show Cheatham's mother was visiting her Thursday evening at the apartment Cheatham, 22, and Nelson shared.

The mother and daughter were outside talking when Cheatham went back inside, reports state. A short time later, the woman heard a gunshot from inside the apartment.

When she went inside, she saw Nelson's two children at the bottom of the steps calling up to their father. Cheatham's mother went upstairs and found Nelson standing in the bathroom with a handgun to his mouth threatening to kill himself, reports state.  Then she saw her daughter on the floor with a bullet wound to her head.

Nelson's children were coming up the stairs so she grabbed them and took them to a neighbor's house, where she called police, reports state.  She went back to her daughter's apartment and saw Nelson coming downstairs with the gun still in his mouth.

Another witness told police he saw Nelson go back into the apartment. When he came back out, Nelson said: "It was an accident. I didn't mean to do it," the probable cause affidavit states.

Also:

GARY | In what has been a busy week for Gary homicide detectives, police are looking for a suspect in the Friday morning shooting death of a 22-year-old woman.

Shadonna Cheatham was found at 4456 W. 24th Ave. with a gunshot wound to the head. Cheatham's mother told police she was outside the apartment when she heard a gunshot, went back inside and found her daughter shot in a bedroom, Cmdr. Samuel Roberts said.

The mother told police she saw the suspect holding a gun and saying he was going to kill himself, Roberts said. The man then left the apartment.

Cheatham was pronounced dead at 9:56 a.m. at the Methodist Hospitals Southlake Campus.

She is the fourth person killed in Gary this week. About 10 hours earlier, 27-year-old Kenyon Tarver was shot to death about three miles away.

Elijah Harris

Hammond couple charged in toddler's beating death

July 31, 2007 (WLS) -- A Northwest Indiana couple is charged in connection with the beating death of a toddler.

Twenty-three-month-old Elijah Harris died last Thursday after suffering traumatic brain injuries at a home in Hammond.  The child's mother, 29-year-old Angela Burgher , and the boy's stepfather, Dennis Burgher, each face four counts of child neglect.  Investigators say the toddler also had scalding burns on his body.

The mother and stepfather remained in custody Tuesday night.

Also:

CROWN POINT | Angela Burgher unfolded a crinkled piece of yellow paper Wednesday and read her apology for the circumstances leading up to her son's death.

The East Chicago woman's son, Elijah Harris, died in July 2007 of severe trauma to the head. He would have celebrated his second birthday a month later.

"I'm sorry to my children for not making better choices and decisions for them," Burgher said Wednesday in a shaky voice.

Burgher was sentenced Wednesday to an agreed term of 10 years in prison for felony child neglect that led to Elijah's death.

The 21-year-old woman, who also has another child, pleaded guilty in April in return for Lake County prosecutors dropping five other felony charges that included battery and neglect of a dependent.

Burgher admitted to watching her husband, Dennis Burgher, strike her son, Lake Criminal Court records show. She said she also noticed blisters and burns on Elijah's body but didn't do anything to get him help.

Angela Burgher also admitted she heard a "thump" while getting ready for work and found Elijah's body crumpled on the basement floor with Dennis Burgher standing nearby.

Dennis Burgher told her Elijah fell down the stairs, court records state. Angela Burgher left for work as usual.

Emergency responders to the Burghers' home said they found bruises to Elijah's forehead, lesions on both sides of his neck and untreated second-degree burns to his buttocks and groin. He wasn't breathing at the time, police said.

Both Burgher and her now estranged husband, Dennis, were charged with multiple felonies relating to Elijah's death.

Dennis Burgher, who was Elijah's stepfather, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony neglect of a dependent.

He admitted to failing to seek medical attention for Elijah after he saw the little boy's injuries. Dennis Burgher did not admit to any abuse or violence.

Luiz A. Gonzalez

Hammond Man Killed in Domestic Violence Incident

LUIS A. GONZALEZ, age 36, of Hammond, Indiana passed away Saturday, July 21, 2007. (Ridgelawn Funeral Home).  He was shot and killed by 13 yr old male in domestic issue.

(No other information could be found.  Please comment if you'd like to add information for dear Luiz).

Mia K. Jones

Husband held in shooting

July 18, 2007

A Hobart man fatally shot his wife in the head Monday night while their two children -- including a 10-month-old baby -- were in the same apartment, police said Tuesday. Police say Tyrone Jones shot Mia K. Jones at the Lake in the Woods Apartment Complex. They lived at Apartment 735, 77 Neringa Lane.

At 11:36 p.m., a man suspected to be Jones called 911 saying he needed an ambulance for his wife, who had been shot.

Mia Jones was found inside her bedroom. Lake County Coroner's office pronounced her dead at the scene at 12:35 a.m.

Also:

A Hobart woman police said was shot and killed by her husband last week is being laid to rest today. Mia K. Jones' funeral is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 735 E. 20th Ave., in Gary, with burial to follow at Evergreen Memorial Park in Hobart.

Jones was 25. She had two sons with her husband, Tyrone Jones. The boys, ages 3 and 10 months, were inside the family's third-story apartment July 17, at the Lake in the Woods complex, when Tyrone Jones shot and killed his wife, police said.

Beverly A. Seavers

Mitchell Man Charged With Death Of His Wife

Last updated on Monday, July 09, 2007

(MITCHELL) - Indiana State Police and the Mitchell Police Department are investigating the death of a Mitchell woman.

30-year-old Marty Seavers was arrested Saturday and faces preliminary charges of reckless homicide in the death of his wife, Beverly Seavers. An early morning 911 call alerted police on the incident.

Seavers has been taken to the Lawrence County Security Center on the Class C felony.  The case has been referred to the Lawrence County Prosecutors office.

Also:

(BEDFORD) - 30-year-old Marty Seavers, of Mitchell, has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, 48-year-old Beverly A. Moffatt Seavers.

A probable cause affidavit states that Seavers admitted that he and his wife had been fighting and she would not stop yelling at him.

Police say Seavers put his hands around his wife's neck during the incident. An initial autopsy was performed and Beverly was found to have died from suffocation due to smothering.

Lawrence County Coroner John Sherrill will give a final cause of death once all testing from the autopsy is completed.  Marty Seavers remains in the Lawrence County jail on a $50,000 cash bond.

Archie Strickland Jr.

Dispute Ends in Fatal Shooting

July 18, 2007

While calling police for help quelling a nasty fight between her two grown sons Monday evening, Kathleen Strickland heard a gunshot.

Her older son, Archie Strickland Jr., 30, was shot. Her younger son, Andre Strickland, 22, was gone.

Archie died a short time later at Methodist Hospitals Northlake emergency room with a gunshot wound to his thigh. He was pronounced dead at 8:14 p.m., Lake County Coroner’s Chief Investigator Paul Castro said.

Andre was arrested at his girlfriend’s house in Brunswick on Monday night, but was released Tuesday by police after he was questioned.

Cmdr. Samuel Roberts said investigators believe Andre fired after his older brother, who suffered from bipolar personality and was recently released from a rehabilitation program, wouldn’t stop his attack.

“There’s an element of self-defense,” Roberts said.

Lake County prosecutors are reviewing the evidence, but no charges are expected to be filed against the younger Strickland brother.

Their mother, a radio dispatcher for the Gary Police Department, told investigators her sons were arguing downstairs in their Tolleston home when Archie began hitting Andre with his fists.

Despite her efforts to intervene, the battle continued. She went upstairs to call police when she heard the single gunshot, police said. Detective Lorenzo Davis presented the case to prosecutors Tuesday.

Jessica Janusas

Jessica Janusas

Jessica Janusas (15) and her stepfather were found dead in an apparent murder suicide

June 13, 2007

A man and his stepdaughter were found dead Monday night in what coroner's office officials are initially calling a murder-suicide.

Mickey Gordon, 42, and Jessica Janusas, 15, both of 519 N. Colfax, were found dead in the home, the Lake County coroner's office said. Gordon died of a gunshot wound to the head, and Janusas died from gunshot wounds to the body, officials said.

An autopsy, which is scheduled for this morning, and a police investigation will reveal more about the incident, a coroner's spokesman said.

Friends, classmates and teammates of Janusas, a Calumet High School student, gathered Monday night on lawns around the single-story home on Colfax, Griffith's eastern border with Calumet Township. Word of the deaths spread through cell phones Monday night.

"She was an honor student, a really good kid," said Melody Jackson, Lake Ridge Fire Department chief and mother of one of Janusas' friends.

A relative found the pair dead of gunshot wounds about 5 p.m. in the home, sheriff's Detective Robert Bridgeman said. The coroner's office received a call at 5:44 p.m., officials there said.

Bridgeman offered no comment on whether police are seeking any suspects. Police had spoken with no witnesses to the killings, he said.

"We're still trying to piece everything together," he said.

Janusas was a softball player and cheerleader, friends said. She was upbeat, they said.

"I don't think she was ever mad or sad," Jessa Musall said.

Those gathered had less to say about Gordon.

"I was really shocked when somebody told me it was Mickey," neighbor Larry Little said. Little said he went to Calumet Township High School and played softball with Gordon more than a decade ago.

"This is so sad," Little said.

Teens talked to reporters on lawns bathed in red and blue lights, but tried to block television cameras from filming the scene. They formed a human wall around the house about 9 p.m. They cheered when one child climbed on another's shoulders to block a camera. Jackson pulled her full-sized truck in front of the house.

Shayla Snedeker

Shayla Snedeker

Shayla Snedeker (19) was killed by her father in a double murder-suicide

June 9, 2008

A double murder-suicide has left neighbors shaken, and wondering what would make a father kill his wife and daughter, then turn the gun on himself.

Police were called to a home just north of Argos Monday morning.

Police say the husband and wife who lived there had ongoing marital problems and were in the process of getting divorced.

The crime scene tape is gone, but the question remains: Why did it have to end like this?

Dustin Younger stopped at the home to make sure what he had heard really happened.

"It tears me up," he told WSBT News.

He worked with Susan Snedecker.

"We were really close," he said. "She was like a second mother to me."

Police say overnight, Susan's husband Terry shot and killed her, their 19-year-old daughter Shayla, and then turned the gun on himself.

Their 12-year-old son made the gruesome discovery when he woke up.

"He was obviously upset and distraught about what had occurred here," explained Det. Lt. Ward Byers of the Marshall County police. "But he was being a very brave young man, and was able to sit down and talk with us about what occurred and what he observed when he woke up in the morning."

Neighbors were caught off guard.

"They were very good people," said neighbor Michael Hammond. "Terry had been sick, and I had been mowing his yard and stuff for him - just neighbor stuff. This was not anticipated."

Officials at the Argos Community Schools - where Shayla graduated from recently and the 12-year-old still attends - called in extra counselors and their crisis intervention team.

"I know the staff, the individual teachers, and so on are fielding a lot of individual questions and concerns," said Ronald Leichty of the Argos Community Schools.

Many in the small community are now asking why.

"Last time I was here everything was all good," Younger said. "It didn't seem like they had any problems or anything."

Shayla Snedecker was a student at Ancilla College. School officials say they're deeply distressed and still in a state of shock. They also have extra grief counselors on hand.


See post for dear mother Susan Snedeker here.

Tracy Parham

Gary man charged with killing, burying woman

21-year-old faces 65 years in prison if convicted of murder

May 31, 2007

CROWN POINT | A 21-year-old Gary man accused of bludgeoning a woman to death and then burying her in his backyard was charged Wednesday with murder.

Louis Vela turned himself in and confessed Tuesday, which led investigators to the body of Tracy Parham, 34, police said.

Officers on Tuesday evening found her naked body wrapped in contractors garbage bags in a grave near the garage at Vela's home, 3856 Van Buren St.

Vela reportedly told police he was smoking crack with Parham on March 11, his 21st birthday. When Parham refused to have sex with him, he bashed her in the head with a lead crystal clock, police and prosecutors say in court records.

When Parham did not wake up, Vela took her to his room and had sex with her, according to the court records.

Parham's body remained in Vela's bedroom while Vela went with family members to Taco Bell and a movie in Portage to celebrate his birthday, court records allege.

Later, in the dark, Vela wrapped Parham in the large plastic bags and dug a grave for her near his backyard garage, police allege.

But when Vela's aunt took him to visit his mother in a nursing home Tuesday, Vela broke down and told the women he had killed someone on March 11, court records say. His aunt encouraged him to turn himself in and accompanied him to the Gary police station.

Vela led police through the home, pointing out objects that likely will become evidence, including bedding, the clock and the shovel with which he buried Parham, police said.

Vela was jailed without bond and faces a maximum sentence of 65 years.

Parham's daughter, Sierra Parham, 13, told The Times on Wednesday that nothing she hears about her mother and how she died will change how she feels.

"No matter what, she was always the sweetest person. She was always there for me and had my back and took care of me like she needed to," Sierra said.

Johnette Parham, the victim's mother, said even though she hadn't heard from Tracy Parham in more than two months, she didn't file a missing person's report, hoping her daughter "went out of town with her boyfriend."

"I was praying that was the situation," Johnette Parham said.

She said she learned about her daughter's death from one of Vela's family members Wednesday. She said she did not know Vela, but she is glad Vela's aunt encouraged him to do the right thing.

"I think that was very courageous and honorable of them," Johnette Parham said. "I won't judge him; I'll let God judge him."