Police Say Video Shows Suspect in Slaying of Pastor's Wife
Friday, 13 Nov 2015 12:35 PM
Home video surveillance cameras caught images of the man who investigators believe broke into an Indianapolis home and fatally shot a pastor's pregnant wife, police said Friday.
City police Capt. Craig Converse said during a news conference that detectives haven't identified the hoodie-wearing suspect in 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn's death. He said the suspect is black and is between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-9 tall.
"We know who killed her," Converse said. "At least we have a picture of him, but we don't know the name."
Blackburn was shot in the head during the attack Tuesday morning and died the next day.
Investigators believe the man in the video might have seen Blackburn's husband, Davey, leave home about 6:10 a.m. Tuesday to go to a gym not long after the suspect apparently burglarized a house two doors away. At least three security cameras posted on other homes captured images of the man walking in the normally quiet neighborhood on the city's northwest side near the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
"We believe that when Mr. Blackburn left to go work out, he saw the opportunity to burglarize another home," Maj. Eric Hench said.
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He said police were working to enhance the video and that police planned to release images of the suspect in the hope that someone might recognize the individual.
A neighbor heard possible gunshots about 6:45 a.m. and home video shows a dark SUV speeding from the neighborhood, Hench said. He said the suspect was seen walking in the neighborhood and that it is not clear if the SUV is connected to the shooting.
No signs of forced entry, such as a kicked-in door or a cut window screen, were found at the Blackburn home, he said.
Blackburn was 13 weeks pregnant, and the child did not survive, family spokeswoman Suzanne Swift said. The Blackburns also have a 15-month-old son, Weston, who Hench said was asleep upstairs at the time of the attack.
Amanda and Davey Blackburn moved from South Carolina to found the independent Resonate Church in Indianapolis in 2012. Amanda Blackburn's father is lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Elkhart, Indiana, and Davey Blackburn's father, Dave Blackburn, is lead pastor at Next Church in Brevard, North Carolina, Swift said.
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