Victim was found nude, but no evidence of sexual assault.
AB Wire
Two men have been charged with murder and a third man faces related burglary charges, in the murder of an Indianapolis pastor’s pregnant wife, Amanda Blackburn.
Officials on Monday announced murder charges against two men—Larry Jo Taylor, Jr., 18, and Jalen Watson, 21—in the shooting death of Blackburn in the Indianapolis home she shared with her husband Pastor Davey Blackburn. A third man, Diano Gordon, 24, faces related burglary charges, reported The Washington Post.
The Marion County prosecutor’s office announced the charges on Monday, hours after police announced Taylor’s arrest. He and Watson also face charges for felony burglary, theft, robbery and auto theft.
Before Watson’s charges were announced, Davey Blackburn said in a statement that he was “extremely relieved” by the news of Taylor’s arrest and that he hoped “that Jesus would give me and our family a heart of forgiveness.”
“Though everything inside of me wants to hate, be angry, and slip into despair I choose the route of forgiveness, grace and hope,” Blackburn said in the statement posted Monday morning on the Resonate Church’s Facebook page.
“Though it does not undo the pain we are feeling, I was extremely relieved to get the news of the arrest made last night of Amanda’s killer,” he said. Investigators told him that they have a strong case, Blackburn said, adding that he was thankful for their “compassion and professionalism.”
“If there is one thing I’ve learned from Amanda in the 10 years we were together, it’s this: Choosing to let my emotions drive my decisions is recipe for a hopeless and fruitless life,” he said.
The Blackburns moved to Indianapolis in January of 2012 “with a dream and a calling to start a life-giving church that would connect with people who normally wouldn’t connect with church,” the couple wrote on Resonate Church‘s Web site, reported the Post.
In the nearly three years that followed, they filled their church and their house. They had a baby boy together and, this fall, Amanda learned she was pregnant again. Even without an official test, they were “sure” it was a girl, according to NBC News.
But on the morning of Nov. 10, the couple’s seemingly perfect life shattered.
Sometime before 5:30 a.m., Watson, Taylor and Gordon embarked on a small crime spree in search of money that would end at the Blackburn residence.
In search of more money after they had robbed two apartments nearby, the trio finally arrived at the unlocked Blackburn residence, with Amanda, then 12 weeks pregnant, and her 15-month-old son inside. Taylor allegedly hit Blackburn with his gun and stayed at the house while the other two drove off to retrieve money from an ATM using her card.
Afterwards, Taylor reportedly told Watson, Gordon and two others that he killed Blackburn.
“Taylor stated that she charged at him and he shot her somewhere in the upper body so he would not be scratched,” the document states. “Taylor then told them that he leaned over her body and shot her in the back of the head. He leaned further, looked at her face, and watched her bleed.”
Her husband returned home from the gym around 7:30 a.m. that morning, but remained on the phone with a friend in the driveway until about 8:20 a.m., according to the affidavit. When he entered the house, he found his wife nude and face down in blood on the living room floor. At an afternoon news conference Monday, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said there was “no sufficient evidence to file sexual assault charges.”
Amanda Blackburn died two days later in the hospital. The unborn child did not survive, though the couple’s toddler was unharmed, reported the Post.