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Stories here are reproduced under the Fair Use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.
Austin woman charged with seeking hit man to kill former husband
North Salem minister fatally shot while giving sermon
Woman kills roommate during argument in Fort Wayne
Johnson County woman gets 40 years for killing ex-boyfriend's son
Wife kills husband with insulin injections in Lake County
Three arrested in bizarre murder of woman's husband in Orange County
Indiana Pacers Ron Artest's girlfriend arrested after hitting him
Girlfriend to surrender in fatal Millbrook stabbing
Woman has hair done after killing husband in Hobart
Woman charged after dumping hot fudge on ex-husband in Valparaiso
Indianapolis woman accused of fatally stabbing husband
Woman fatally shoots man in Randolph County welfare office
Muncie woman arrested for arson, murder
Intoxicated woman runs over, kills boyfriend in Indianapolis
Colts cornerback Nick Harper starts football game one day after wife cuts his knee with a knife
Calumet Township woman freed on finding of insanity after shooting husband
Woman charged with murder after stabbing ex-Jackson 5 drummer in Gary
Woman convicted of killing daughter gets protective order against girl's father in Fort Wayne
Woman gets 40 years for burning boyfriend in St. Joseph County
Woman ignites ex-boyfriend's clothes, burns storage unit in Anderson
MTV 'Teen Mom' star Amber Portwood charged with domestic violence felonies in Anderson
Notre Dame Ph.D. student arrested after stalking, killing ex-boyfriend
December 20, 1992 — An Austin, Indiana, woman has been indicted for allegedly offering an undercover sheriff's detective $2,000 to murder her former husband.
Penelope Haubach was charged with one count of traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to murder Dale Haubach of Medway.
September 20, 1993, North Salem — A Methodist minister, Rev. Roland Phillips, was finishing his sermon when a former girlfriend shot him to death in front of his congregation and 13-year old daughter, police said.
The woman, Elizabeth Mayberry, whom Rev. Phillips had once dated, approached him during the sermon and asked to speak to him. Ms. Mayberry stood next to Rev. Phillips until he was concluding the sermon then pulled out a gun and shot him. [Source: Denver Post, September 20, 1993, and Dr. James Kline.]
December 9, 1996 (UPI) — A 43-year-old Fort Wayne woman is charged with killing her roommate Sunday. Lucy Rivera is accused of stabbing 25-year-old Alberto Lopez in the back. Ms. Rivera told police Lopez hit her prior to the stabbing. Witnesses confirmed there was an argument just before the attack.
November 10, 1998, Franklin (States News Service) — A 24-year-old Johnson County woman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the death of her ex-boyfriend's 18-month-old son. Amanda Vibbart pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery.
The child, Christopher Emerson, died of severe head injuries in August 1997.
© 2003 WDNU News
November 11, 2003
— A Lake County Indiana woman was charged with repeatedly injecting her husband with insulin until he died.
Sixty-one year-old Barbara Garcia from Hobart stored the dead body in her garage for three days while she got her hair done and handed out Halloween candy.
Mrs. Garcia told police she killed her husband on October 30, 2003, because he was about to discover she had withdrawn $4,000 from the couple's savings to cover gambling losses. Mrs. Garcia was married to her husband, Cipriano, for 43 years.
After the couple's daughter arrived home, Mrs. Garcia told her that her father had died suddenly. Mrs. Garcia then convinced her daughter, Tammy, to help her get rid of the body so she could continue receiving pension checks. The body was later found in a wooded area.
November 12, 1998, Paoli (States News Service and Associated Press) — A woman and two teenage boys have been arrested in connection with the murder of the woman's husband in Orange County. The body of 39-year-old Forest Mills was found floating in Patoka Lake on Sunday. Now, Mills' wife, Leilani, her 18-year-old son, Dallas Mayberry, and a friend, 19-year-old Albert Apple, are all charged with shooting Mills.
Police think Leilani Mills murdered her husband because she feared he was providing information to police about her drug use.
Less than two months before, Forrest Mills Jr. had moved into a small, white-and-blue trailer with his wife, her three children, a family friend and the friend's girlfriend.
It wasn't long before the family's guns and arguments scared neighbor Regina Green so much that she wouldn't let her children play in the front yard.
“They were just really strange people,” Mrs. Green said Wednesday.
Police say the family was involved in something even more unsettling — Mills' murder and an effort to cover it up....
Mrs. Mills kept her children out of school and claimed to be home-schooling them, though Mrs. Green said she saw little evidence of that.
And then there were the arguments between Mills, 39, and his 38-year-old wife.
“She yelled at him, hit him, abused him,” Mrs. Green said. “She was really mean to him.”
The disturbing climax to the family's story came October 29, 1998, police say, when Mills was killed outside the trailer by a shotgun blast that blew off part of his jaw. Prosecutor Steve Owen said a witness reported that Mrs. Mills caressed and kissed the blown-off portion of her husband's jaw before eating part of it.
Abstracted from the Indianapolis Star
September 16, 2002 — The girlfriend of Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest was to appear in court today after her arrest on domestic battery charges. Kimisha Hatfield, 27, admitted striking Artest in the head with her hands on Sunday, said Major Dan Nickel of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. Nickel said Artest, 22, who called police, was waiting outside the Carmel home he is believed to share with Hatfield and the couple's two children when officers arrived.
The incident comes after Artest was charged last summer with two counts of harassment, and one criminal contempt charge, for allegedly leaving another woman a threatening phone message.
© 2003 The Beacon News
Reproduced under the Fair Use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.
Yorkville, May 29, 2003 — A northwest Indiana woman is expected to turn herself in today on charges that she murdered her live-in boyfriend last weekend at a campground near Millbrook, prosecutors said.
Lori D. Nagel, 28, of Schererville, faces charges of murder and obstructing justice, Kendall County First Assistant State's Attorney Eric Weis said.
She is accused of stabbing Thomas Krueger, 34, in the heart with a kitchen knife during an argument just after 10 PM Saturday. Nearby campers at the Yogi Bear Jellystone Park called paramedics after seeing Krueger fall to the ground outside the trailer where he was stabbed, Weis said.
“At this point, we do not have the indication that it was self-defense,” Weis said.
Krueger was unconscious when paramedics arrived. He was declared dead at Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich.
Investigators found the knife in a campfire, Weis said.
Two children, one of them Nagel's, were inside the trailer but did not witness the stabbing, Weis said.
Ms. Nagel will be represented by attorney Gregg Ingemunson, the son of former Kendall County State's Attorney Dallas Ingemunson. She is also represented by a lawyer in Coal City, Weis said.
If she surrenders as planned, she will appear before a judge Friday morning for a bond hearing.
Contact staff writer John Zaremba at (630) 801-5414 or jzaremba@scn1.com
November 12, 2003, Hobart (Reuters) — A woman poisoned her husband and put his body in the garage while she went about getting her hair done and handing out Halloween candy, police alleged on Tuesday
Barbara Garcia, 51, a retired nurse in Hobart, Indiana, about 30 miles east of Chicago, has been charged with murdering her husband, Cipriano.
Police say she laced his soup with insulin on October 30, 2003, then repeatedly injected him with the substance while he slept until he died.
While his body sat in the couple's garage, Garcia had her hair done and passed out Halloween candy the following day, police said. She dumped his body in a forest, but it was discovered a week ago and she was charged with his murder on Monday.
Hobart Police spokesman Rick Zormier said it appeared Barbara Garcia had gambling losses and had misappropriated some of her husband's assets and did not want him to find out.
© 2004 abc7chicago.com
January 8, 2004 — A Valparaiso woman who dumped a pot of hot fudge on her ex-husband is charged with domestic battery.
Police say Julia Byrd Spearman initially told them on Tuesday her husband dumped the fudge on himself during an argument. But later she admitted to being the one who actually poured the hot fudge on him.
When officers asked her ex-husband if he had been burned, he told them that it hurt a little bit.
© 2004 TheIndyChannel.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 — Police arrested an Indianapolis woman Tuesday for allegedly stabbing her husband to death.
Police were called to the 800 block of South Collier Street on the southwest side around 12:25 AM.
Investigators said Shannon Stamm admitting stabbing her husband, Richard, in front of their home.
Stamm was being held in the Marion County Jail on preliminary charges of murder.
Police said there was already a warrant for Stamm's arrest, and she was on probation for a felony conviction in Hendricks County for felony neglect of a dependent.
Both of the Stamms had a criminal history of battery-related charges, RTV6 reported.
© 2004 TheIndyChannel.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 — A woman is accused of fatally shooting a male Monday afternoon at a Randolph County welfare office in Winchester, police said.
The name of the male wasn't released. Police said the shooting happened shortly before 3 PM on the second floor of 320 S. Oak St.
Janet L. Blakeslee, 35, of Losantville, was arrested on a preliminary charge of murder. She was taken to the Randolph County Jail.
Police arrived at the building after receiving several 911 calls. When officers got there, the officers were told that Ms. Blakeslee had been subdued after the shooting.
Police didn't say whether they knew anything about a motive.
Winchester is about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, and about 10 miles west of the Indiana-Ohio border.
© 2004 13 WTHR — Indianapolis
March 11, 2004 — Muncie Police have arrested a woman they say torched her boyfriend's house, killing the man's friend.
Police took 37-year-old Patricia Williams into custody Wednesday night for the December 16 arson. Police say Ms. Williams and her boyfriend, Larry Price, argued that day when Price went next door to call police.
When the boyfriend returned home it was fully engulfed.
The friend inside, 49-year-old Darnell Pratcher, was trapped and died.
April 16, 2004 — An Indianapolis man died in a freak accident there Thursday morning. According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, Todd Birch, 24, was run over by his girlfriend, Liza Besser, 22, of Indianapolis, when the two left Indianapolis' Slippery Noodle Inn at about 1:40 AM Thursday.
A police report indicates that Birch gave Ms. Besser his car keys because he felt too intoxicated to drive.
The newspaper said Ms. Besser told police she was walking ahead of Birch, got behind the wheel of his 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix three blocks away and began driving to where she thought he was standing. She told police she felt a bump after driving a short distance and found Birch underneath the car.
Paramedics were called to the scene, but Birch died of his injuries.
Police said Ms. Besser's blood-alcohol concentration was above the legal limit, according to the Times, so she was arrested on a charge of drunken driving causing death.
Ms. Besser told police she and Birch had dated for three years.
Todd Birch graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1998. He was in his senior year at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, his brother, Ryan Birch, told the newspaper.
Special thanks to Ken Kosky of the Times Of Northwest Indiana
January 15, 2006, Indianapolis — Colts cornerback Nick Harper started Sunday's divisional playoff game against Pittsburgh, one day after his left knee was cut in an apparent domestic disturbance.
Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter said Mrs. Daniell Harper, 31, was being held without bond on charges of battery with a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness after cutting her husband with a knife.
Team president Bill Polian issued a written statement before the game that said Harper's wound was an inch deep and a half-inch wide. It required three stitches, but Polian said there was no damage to the knee joint or capsule.
Harper was listed as questionable but when the Colts defense took the field for the first time, he was in the lineup.
Nick Harper, also 31, was arrested in June 2005 on a domestic battery charge after police said he hit his wife. He first signed with the Colts as a free agent in 2001.
Michael Finnearty, 41, died from a single gunshot to the head on January 23, 2006, while he slept in the couple's home in Calumet Township, just south of Gary.
On October 16, 2008, a jury found Jerri Finnearty, 43, not responsible by reason of insanity in the fatal shooting her abusive husband.
Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. ruled that she was not a danger to the community or gravely disabled and released her from custody. “She's already served her prison sentence,” Stefaniak said.
The judge denied a motion by deputy prosecutor Mary Ryan to have Finnearty taken into custody so doctors could evaluate whether she was a danger to society. “To place Jerri Finnearty in custody would be nothing more than to punish her, which the jury said we should not do,” Stefaniak said.
The jury deliberated less than five hours before reaching its verdict.
Finnearty had been free on $5,000 bond since May 2006.
Jerri Finnearty was terrified that her husband of 19 years would kill her, said defense attorney Steven Mullins.
He said his client suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his physical and emotional abuse, and that she acted in self-defense.
During the week-and-a-half long trial, Jerri Finnearty testified about years of abuse that her husband inflicted on her and their five children. She said her husband once held a .38-caliber revolver to her head for hours and told her the only way she would leave was “6 feet under.”
Finnearty said her husband's girlfriend lived in a trailer in the couple's driveway, and she had to babysit the young son he had had with the woman.
Ryan, however, argued no police or medical records supported Jerri Finnearty's claims.
During closing arguments, the prosecutor pointed to inconsistencies among what Jerri Finnearty and four of her five children told medical experts, police, the jury and a magistrate during her bail hearing in May 2006.
“They told outright lie after outright lie,” she said. [Characteristically perjury is never prosecuted even in murder cases.]
Jurors also had the option of convicting or acquitting Finnearty of murder or voluntary manslaughter.
March 6, 2006 (AP) — A woman told police she stabbed a former drummer for the Jackson 5 with a steak knife when he lunged at her during a fight, prosecutors said.
Yolanda Davis, 44, was being held without bond on a charge of murder Monday in the Lake County Jail and could face 45 years to 65 years in prison if she's convicted.
Ms. Davis is charged with killing Johnny Jackson, 54, of Gary, who was found dead late Wednesday in a Gary home. He replaced the Jackson 5's original drummer around 1967, but reports conflict on whether he was related to Gary's legendary Jackson family, which includes pop stars Michael and Janet.
Gary police Detective Tom Decanter Jr. said in an affidavit that Yolanda Davis told them she grabbed the knife after Jackson choked and struck her. Police found him later with a stab wound to his chest. Ms. Davis was not at the scene when police arrived.
In part abstracted from article in The News-Sentinel, FortWayne.com
April 12, 2006 — A woman convicted of drowning her 2-year-old daughter obtained a protective order against the girl's father after she was released from prison earlier this week.
The father, Brad May, said Tuesday he was not surprised by the order, granted by an Allen Superior Court magistrate. He has been critical of the decision to release Ms. Noe.
The protective order prohibits Mr. May, who lives in Michigan, from contacting Ms. Noe in any manner, including by telephone, in person or by letter and from harassing, annoying, or threatening her for two years. [EJF note: How does an Indiana court, a mere magistrate at that, have jurisdiction over a man living in Michigan? It would also reasonably appear that Judi Noe is the danger here, not Brad May.]
“I wish somebody would have put half this much energy into protecting Brieana as they are into protecting Judi now,” May said. [EJF note: She murders their baby yet she is a “victim” in need of protection from a man who lives in another state!]
Judi L. Noe, 36, served one year and 13 days in prison on a charge of voluntary manslaughter for drowning her daughter, Brieana Jaide Noe, in June 2004. Ms. Noe had pled guilty but mentally ill to the reduced charges and was sentenced to serve five years of an eight-year sentence in prison, followed by three years on probation.
Allen Superior Court Judge John Surbeck Jr. on February 23, 2006, approved Ms. Noe's early release from prison and moved her to the county's re-entry program, which requires weekly court appearances and provides counseling and job-search assistance.
Ms. Noe was scheduled to begin mental health treatment this week as part of her early release.
This case is another fine example of the female sentencing discount. Carol Kuhn, the child's paternal grandmother, believes “the judicial system made a joke of the situation by giving Noe such a short prison term. Judi essentially just got away with it,” Kuhn said.
According to earlier article, after what might euphemistically be called Judi Noe's “sentencing” on March 29, 2005, the little girl's father “described the sentence as absurd and said five years in prison isn't enough time for 'a baby killer.'”
Brad May asserted then that it was not a coincidence that Judi Noe drowned Brieana on Father's Day, and told the judge during the hearing that “he believed Noe planned to kill their daughter after he began pursuing custody.” He also told the judge he “believes his daughter struggled and suffered for at least 30 minutes before she died, based on his conversations with doctors.”
If Brad May had been given custody of his little girl, instead of Judi Noe, she would be alive today.
October 23, 2008 (AP) — A Michigan woman who pleaded guilty to setting her ex-boyfriend on fire in Indiana has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a South Bend judge.
Dorothy Hamilton of Galesburg pled guilty last month to one count of arson. The judge cited Hamilton's criminal history in sentencing her to the maximum term stipulated under her plea agreement.
Ms. Hamilton, 38, admitted pouring gas on her ex-boyfriend and throwing a lighter on him in 2006 after an argument at a St. Joseph County residence. He suffered permanent scarring on his buttocks.
Hamilton evaded authorities for 10 months before her August 2007 arrest in Texas.
Court documents state Hamilton attacked her ex-boyfriend because he had not intervened when “another individual” looked at her in a sexual way.
December 12, 2008 (AP) — Police in Indiana say a woman set fire to her ex-boyfriend's clothing at a self-storage center and caused more than $100,000 in damage. Donna J. Duell was arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire Wednesday night. She has been released from Madison County Jail after posting $20,000 bond Thursday.
Police say she first denied involvement but then admitted to setting the clothes on fire in an empty unit at Community Storage Lockers.
Duell told police the former couple were involved in a “bitter domestic dispute.”
Police say the fire engulfed the building in Anderson and caused more than $100,000 in damages.
November 18, 2010
— Anna Chan writes: Police in Anderson have officially charged
Teen Mom
star Amber Portwood with two felonies and one misdemeanor for domestic battery.
During a September episode of season two of the MTV hit show, Ms. Portwood was seen repeatedly slapping, punching and kicking her then-fiancée, Gary Shirley. Police said that Amber Portwood is facing felony charges because Portwood and Shirley's young daughter, Leah, was present when the alleged violence occurred.
Ms. Portwood faces fines of up to $10,000 and three years in jail if she's convicted.
Though Leah is currently living with her dad, Shirley, and Amber Portwood is facing some major legal trouble, a source close to the 20-year-old mom told Life & Style, “Amber's not in any rush to get Leah back...She has all this fame, she has all this attention. That's what she wants. She wants to party. She's not a very good mother right now.”
Abstracted from story by Biba Adams, The Grio
November 18, 2020
— Notre Dame Ph.D. student Nijinsky Dix. 37, was found at the feet of her ex-boyfriend, Terry HIckman, 44, with a gun in her hand and her mother on speakerphone in Washington, D. C.
Ms. Dix is accused of stalking and killing Mr. Hickman and has been charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of unregistered ammunition and possession of an unregistered firearm. The two had reportedly dated for three months, a stretch that ended in May.
In a press release, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police detailed their response to a call reporting gunshots at an apartment complex in the District.
“Upon arrival, members located an adult male, inside an apartment suffering from gunshot wounds, and the victim displayed no signs consistent with life.”
“The detectives' investigation revealed this offense is domestic in nature.”
Chicago news station NBC 5 reported that Ms. Dix was found:
“...kneeling at the victim's feet with her right hand raised and her left hand between her legs. Officers noticed that the defendant was holding a handgun and asked to her drop the weapon, at which point she complied.”
Ms. Dix was on a call on speakerphone, and the other party identified herself as her mother and told police:
“The individual stated the defendant called her and stated, 'He pushed me, and I shot him.'”
She was taken to a D. C. hospital, where a doctor conducted a health assessment. Medical personnel said Dix had an abrasion on the inside of her lip, and she told them she had back pain.
According to local reporting, when shown a photograph of Hickman, Dix began crying and repeating, “Get it away from me.” At one point, she then said:
Nijinsky Dix was pursuing a doctorate and was completing her degree at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She was the director of a TRiO program called Talent Search Upward Bound at Notre Dame, where she both worked and attended classes.
The university “is aware of her arrest,” officials there say, “and will cooperate with law enforcement as appropriate.”
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