Anthony Wayne Carter
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay filed a murder charge Friday against Anthony Carter, 49, Indianapolis, in the shooting death of Ashley Neville.
The case was filed in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 and Judge James Worton has ordered Carter held without bond.
A murder conviction is punishable by 45 to 65 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
A probable cause affidavit filed with the charging document states that Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies were sent to a home on County Road 650S at about 5:28 a.m. on April 16 for a welfare check.
A woman told 911 dispatchers that her father, identified as Carter, had stopped by her residence and told her he killed his girlfriend, identified as Neville. The caller said Carter and Neville had been staying at the residence for about a year.
Deputies learned there was a no contact order in place barring Carter from having contact with Neville, court documents state.
When deputies arrived, they did not get an answer at the residence, advising the windows were covered up and there was a padlock on the outside of the door.
Investigators began looking for Neville’s red 2015 Chevrolet Cruz, which was registered to another individual, but was known to be in Neville’s possession. They found the vehicle abandoned in a field north of 2240 E. County Road 800S the morning of April 16, court documents state.
The owner of the County Road 650S residence gave consent for deputies to enter but after a cursory search, they did not find Neville there.
At about 1 p.m., deputies went back to the County Road 650S area due to reports of a suspicious male in a wooded area near the home. Deputies and a K9 located Carter hiding in the wooded area, court documents state.
Carter was taken to the sheriff’s office where during an interview, said he grabbed a gun from Neville and it went off, striking her, court documents state. Carter told investigators he did not know the gun was loaded, and further stated the gunshot did not immediately kill the woman, and “to end her suffering,” he put a plastic bag around her head, using duct tape to secure it and then placed his hand over her mouth, smothering her, according to court documents. He then told detectives he had possession of the car that had been abandoned, and that he left it in the field where it was found, court documents state.
A search warrant was obtained for the County Road 650S house and Neville was located in the bedroom in the northeast corner of the residence, found on a bed covered by a large pile of clothing and other items, court documents state.
An autopsy reveled that Neville suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of her head, court documents state.
On April 17, detectives interviewed Carter again and Carter was asked for the location of the gun used in Neville’s death, which had not been located, court documents state. In this interview, he told detectives he had discarded a small pistol used in the shooting in the woods somewhere south of the residence, court documents state. He accompanied detectives to that area to search for the weapon and there, told detectives that Neville had never had the gun, and that he brought the gun into the bedroom where the shooting occurred, court documents state.
Deputies located the gun and recovered it, court documents state.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
