A person of interest who was being sought in the shooting death of Columbus business woman Cassondra Wilson is believed to have hanged himself in an office building on Indianapolis’ west side.
The Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team said Wilson’s ex-husband, Troy Wilson, 44, was found deceased Saturday afternoon on the west side of Indianapolis, after Cassondra Wilson’s was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head at 9 p.m. Friday at Spruce Ridge Apartments in Columbus.
An Indianapolis Police Department incident report says Troy Wilson’s body was found in the 3100 block of Dandy Trail in Indianapolis.
Members of the local death investigation team are continuing to investigate both deaths, working with the Indianapolis Police and the Marion County Coroner’s Office, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.
Police said Cassondra Wilson, 45, died from a gunshot wound to the head at 3773 Picea Place in the Spruce Ridge Apartments, which are located on the west side of the city off Two Mile House Road. Police were called to the apartment about the shooting at 9 p.m. Friday. She did not live at the apartment where the shooting occurred, police said.
Coroner Clayton Nolting has ruled Wilson’s death as a homicide. An autopsy was completed Sunday morning at Columbus Regional Hospital, Nolting said.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office has not released the formal cause of death and manner of death for Troy Wilson as of Tuesday.
Cassondra Wilson had a protective order filed against her ex-husband, and Columbus police had been seeking to question him as a person of interest in her death, police said.
Members of the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team are continuing to investigate the shooting.
The death investigation team consists of officers and detectives from the Columbus Police Department, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, and Indiana State Police as well as representatives from the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
Cassondra Wilson was chief executive officer of “trainerconnect” in Columbus, a company providing in-depth training opportunities for companies including Cummins, Inc., Enkei and other local large manufacturing facilities. Her company provided specialized training and certification opportunities for company employees, providing customized training packages to businesses.
She was also appointed by the Indiana governor as a member of the Minority Business Council for the state of Indiana, serving as its commissioner for southern Indiana.
She was an active member of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and had just celebrated a ribbon cutting for a grand opening of her new “trainerconnect” location on Central Avenue.
The Indiana University football team issued a statement of support for the couple’s three children, including Cam Wilson, who is a wide receiver for IU’s football team.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Cam and his family,” IU head football coach Tom Allen said in a statement. “We’ve been in contact and communication with Cam once we learned of this tragedy. He is a tremendous young man, and we will continue to assist and support him in any and all ways. We ask everyone to respect Cam and his family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
In addition to the statement, IU officials are referring people to a gofundme page set up in Cassondra Wilson’s memory to help raise money to defray funeral costs and to support the couple’s children.
“As you have likely heard by now, IU football wide receiver Cam Wilson has suffered an unimaginable family tragedy. Indiana fans have an opportunity to support Wilson during this very difficult time. Wilson and his siblings have set up a Go Fund Me page to help them pay for expenses. The Go Fund Me page indicates that “all donations received will be used for personal and death related expenses maintained by Cameron, Jaden, and Sydney.”
The gofundme page is located at https://www.gofundme.com/f/cassondra-wilson039s-memorial-fund. As of Tuesday, the total was more than $35,000.
