Alejandro Chamorro, Sr.

Alejandro Chamorro, Sr.

Teen admits killing family

Posted: Mar 03, 2010 6:54 AM EST

Jeremy Brilliant

Eyewitness News

March 25 update:

The Whitestown teen facing murder charges the deaths of his father, his father's girlfriend and his own twin brother admitted during questioning that he killed his family.

In court documents, investigators also say Barney Chamorro told them he took his father's girlfriend's car after the killings last month.

Chamorro faces charges of murder, burglary, robbery, theft and auto theft.

Relatives say Chamorro recently lost his job and his father threatened to send him back to their native Nicaragua.

Original story:

Boone County - The teenager accused of killing three family members, then fleeing to Texas, is now in custody in Indiana. Police say 19-year-old Barney Chamorro murdered his father, twin brother and stepmother last week. The bodies were discovered in their Whitestown home last Friday.

Four days after Chamorro was captured in Texas, he was returned in shackles to Boone County.

His right hand was bandaged. Police say he sustained the injury during the murders. Investigators say he killed his twin brother Alejandro Junior, his 51-year-old father Alejandro and his 55-year-old stepmother Judy Schindler.

"My sister and I spoke numerous times during the week; we emailed constantly, thank God, and there was no indication whatsoever that anything was wrong," said Charlene Horne, Judy Schindler's sister.

Five days after the bodies were found inside the Whitestown home, the property remained cordoned off. Officers continued collecting evidence in their case against the teenage suspect.

Police would not comment about the direction of the investigation but they say the public should not be fearful since a suspect is in custody.

"I would not say that there are other suspects around. But there may be other personnel that have knowledge of what transpired," said Chief Dennis Anderson, Whitestown Police Department. He added: "We really have no clue as to why somebody would do what he did, or what he's alleged to have done...anything beyond that would just be speculation."

While police won't speculate about a motive, some family members say they have an idea. They say Barney and his father had recently argued. They say the 19-year-old had recently lost his job and gotten into some trouble and that his father wanted to send him back to his native Nicaragua.

"He first said he wanted to go back but then he changed his mind. And that's when this happened. You know, he spoke to my uncle and he said, 'Oh, I should go back,' and my uncle said, 'I think you should, too,'" said Jorge Chamorro, a cousin.

Members of the Chamorro family came from Miami after they learned of the murders earlier this week. They are dealing not only with the loss of two relatives but knowing that a family member is accused of killing them.

"It's very tough," said Rosario Chamorro, Alejandro Sr.'s sister and Barney Chamorro's aunt. "We never thought a son would do something like that to his own father. My brother made a great sacrifice to become a citizen and to bring his son here for a better life. He never thought that he brought his own death."

Investigators say they didn't ask Barney Chamorro questions during their trip back to Indiana and he didn't volunteer any information.

Chamorro is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday in Boone County. He faces three preliminary counts of murder and is being held without bond.

Also see posts for dear partner Judy Schindler and son Alejandro Chamorro Jr..

Judy Schindler

Arrest made in Whitestown homicides

Updated: Monday, 01 Mar 2010, 2:55 PM EST
Published : Friday, 26 Feb 2010, 3:46 PM EST

• Reporter: Phil Sanchez
• Reporter: Mike Corbin
• Edited by Andrew Bonner

WHITESTOWN, Ind. (WISH) - The manhunt for the prime suspect in a Central Indiana triple homicide ended in an arrest early Saturday. Authorities arrested the 19-year-old man suspected of brutally killing his twin brother, his father and his father's wife in Ward, TX. Police located the teenager after he used a credit card Friday in Mount Vernon, Texas, 50 miles east of Dallas.

Whitestown authorities were called to 101 Hull Street Friday after 46-year-old Judy Schindler's employer, TJ's Market, reported that she had not come to work.

Police found Schindler's body and those of her husband, 51-year-old Alejandro Chamorro, and her husband's son, 19-year-old Alex Chamorro Jr., inside the home.

The bodies of Alejandro Sr. and Schindler were found in their living room while Alejandro Jr. was found dead in his bedroom.

Police said Alejandro Chamorro's son, 19-year-old Barney Jose Chamorro, who also lived at the home and is believed to have been present during the killings. Barney Chamorro is also the twin brother of Alex Chamorro Jr.

“We believe he was in the residence last night. We have reason to believe that and he was last seen at a local filling station last night in one of the victim’s trucks," said Whitestown Police Chief Dennis Anderson.

Barney Chamorro had recently lost his job at a Zionsville Burger King where the brothers worked.

Schindler's co-worker at TJ's Market, Tonya Gwaltney, made the call to police.

“Judy was very outgoing, friendly. Everybody liked her. She worked here for about two years," said Gwaltney. “She simply cared. She cared about our business, she cared about my mom, who's the owner, and she’s gonna be dearly missed and very, very hard to replace.”

Chamorro Sr. worked at the Old Country Buffet restaurant in Westfield for over 12 years. His co-workers called him an exemplary employee who never missed work and was rarely late.

Restaurant manager Andrew Leonerd told 24-Hour News 8 he anxiously awaited word about Chamorro Sr., or ”Alex" as he was known.

"Our hearts sank because Alex was very well-loved here. He'd worked here overe 12 years and he was probably our most-loved server and everyone looked at him as our grand old man of the restaurant," said Leonerd.

Leonerd said that Chamorro Sr. was last seen by restaurant employees on Thursday when Alejandro Jr. picked him up from work at 4 p.m.

Leonerd says they appeared to be in good spirits when they left.

Also see posts for dear partner Alejandro Chamorro Sr. and son Alejandro Chamorro Jr..

Alejandro Chamorro, Jr.

Triple killing suspect in local jail

March 04, 2010 by Robert Annis | Star staff

Aunt: Family plan to send man back to Nicaragua might have angered him

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — Family members believe the 19-year-old immigrant accused of killing his twin brother, his father and his father’s common-law wife might have been upset because the family wanted to send him back to Nicaragua.

Boone County police returned with Barney Jose Chamorro early Wednesday. He was arrested in Texas on Saturday, the day after officers found the bodies of Judy Schindler, Alejandro Chamorro Sr. and Alejandro Chamorro Jr. in the family’s Whitestown home.

Chamorro faces three preliminary counts of murder and is being held in Boone County Jail in Lebanon.

“We’re saddened by the events that have taken place but are glad to be able to make an apprehension as quickly as we were,” said Whitestown Police Chief Dennis Anderson at a news conference in Zionsville.

“Whitestown is a small community; things like this normally don’t happen here,” he said.

Rosario Chamorro, Alejandro Chamorro Sr.’s younger sister, said he told her Barney Chamorro had recently disappeared for four days after getting a $1,000 tax return. Rosario Chamorro thought Barney had gone on a drug binge with the cash.

Barney Chamorro recently lost his job at the Zionsville Burger King, as well as his driver’s license. Relatives said Alejandro Chamorro Sr. had decided to send him back to Nicaragua.

“We never thought a son could do something like that to his father,” Rosario Chamorro said. “His father made great sacrifices bringing him to this country.”

Charlene Horne, Judy Schindler’s sister, said Schindler never indicated her home life was troubled, though they spoke several times a week.

Police homed in on Barney Chamorro as the main suspect fairly quickly. He was missing when officers discovered the bodies, and a witness placed him at the scene within hours of the slayings. When police in Texas discovered him, he was sleeping in one of the victims’ vehicles at a Texas rest stop.

Investigators say they found physical evidence in the vehicle, which is being brought back to Indiana.

Anderson said Chamorro was quiet during the return trip to Indiana and didn’t say much to officers. Anderson declined to comment on whether police were searching for additional suspects but said they might be seeking a person of interest who knew more about the crimes.

Anderson expected to file a report with the Boone County prosecutor’s office today.

Rosario Chamorro, Miami, planned to take her brother’s and nephew’s bodies back to Nicaragua for burial.

Also see posts for dear family member Judy Schindler and father Alejandro Chamorro Sr..

Beth Stayer

Beth Stayer

5-year-old Says He Saw Dad Fatally Beat Mom, Court Papers Say

June 20, 2009 by Robert Annis | Star staff

5-year-old witnessed attack by his father, according to court papers

A 5-year-old allegedly witnessed his father beat his mother so severely in her Whitestown home that she died the next day, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Michael Stayer, 32, beat his ex-wife, Beth Stayer, 34, with a hammer and a tire iron June 11. He has been charged with murder and could face the death penalty.

Emergency medical workers found Beth Stayer nearly lifeless in her 2-year-old daughter’s room and immediately transferred the woman to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. She died the next day from her injuries.

Beth and Michael Stayer had been divorced less than two months.

The couple’s 5-year-old son witnessed the attack, according to the probable cause affidavit. The boy heard a commotion and screaming coming from his 2-year-old sister’s room and went upstairs, Jennifer Essex said in the affidavit. Essex is with the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Essex said the boy described a bloody scene, stating that “dad had hit mommy” and his father had used a hammer and “a killer,” which police believe was a tire iron found in Michael Stayer’s Jeep. Asked if his parents had been violent with one another before, the boy said he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Dr. Marla Souder of Community Psychological Consultants, Indianapolis, is not involved in the case but said it’s beneficial for the boy’s mental health that he can communicate about it on his own terms.

He can be expected to have a hard time processing and sorting out what he witnessed, and he likely will go through multiple stages of grief as he mourns the loss of his mother and separation from his father, Souder said. That could develop into post-traumatic stress, she explained.

At 2, the Stayers’ daughter is unlikely to remember much about this incident, but she will live it through her brother’s experience, and that will have a lifelong effect, Souder said.

After police got to the scene, they said, Stayer’s brother, David Stayer, arrived and wanted to leave with the children and his brother’s vehicle, which potentially had evidence inside. Police are searching Michael Stayer’s cell phone records to see if he called or texted instructions to his brother.

Michael Stayer was arrested soon after the attack and is being held in the Boone County Jail without bond.

In addition to the murder charge, he faces felony counts of aggravated battery, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and domestic battery. He’s scheduled to go on trial Oct. 19 in Boone County. If convicted on all four counts, he could face up to 96 years in prison.

The two children are staying with a foster family.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday, where Boone Circuit Judge Steve David could decide if the children will remain with the foster family or be released to family members.