INDIANAPOLIS - PREGNANT MOM MURDERED (Amanda Blackburn)

[HairOfTheDog]

I hope it's not the husband this time, but it won't surprise me if it is.



Amanda Blackburn (pictured with her husband Davey Blackburn and son Weston), 28, was shot in her Indianapolis home, reportedly as she tried to defend herself and her one-year-old son, Weston, from a burglar on Tuesday morning.

Amanda was 12 weeks pregnant and was pronounced dead on Wednesday after her organs were donated.

Her husband, Resonate Church pastor Davey Blackburn, was at the gym when the incident occurred and came home to find his wife wounded at about 8.30am.

Police are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information. Officers are still investigating the incident.

[HairOfTheDog]

This is what husband/pastor Davey Blackburn posted shortly after his wife's death.



'It’s impossible to communicate all the emotions my heart has been forced to process. My wife was such a beautiful, gracious, loving woman of God.

'I have not only lost my ministry partner and support but also my very best friend. There is no way to prepare yourself for circumstances like these.

'As deeply as I am hurting I am hopeful and confident that good things will come of this. I rest in the truth of Romans 8:28 that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.

'Thank you for understanding my desire to take these next few days to continue to grieve for Amanda Grace.

'My focus right now is to let The Lord minister to my heart as I continue to shepherd little Weston’s. I’ll be taking this time to focus on being a great follower of Jesus, dad, family member, and pastor to our growing church.

Refs:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/.../75637162/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ruder.html

[Duchess]

I'm not giving him the benefit of doubt. I don't like his attitude, I don't like the way he came up with a post shortly after discovering his pregnant wife was brutally murdered in her home. I don't like his vibe.

[Midwest Spy]

He did it.

[Blindgreed1]

I'm not giving him the benefit of doubt. I don't like his attitude, I don't like the way he came up with a post shortly after discovering his pregnant wife was brutally murdered in her home. I don't like his vibe.

It's all very fishy. And why so many organs? How many can she play at church at once?

[Love Child]

She is so fricking cute.

[sally]

Freaks.

[Midwest Spy]

My theory on husband's guilt, and again I'm just hypothesizing:

I believe it'll come to light that they were in some real financial trouble, maybe even to the point where their house is heading into foreclosure.

Whether it'll be related to gambling, other women or something else, that's my take on why he FELT he needed to do this.

So, he shot her at some point in the morning, staged the robbery, checked in at the gym for the alibi, and then returned. That trip to the gym also allows him to ditch the murder weapon.

We'll see.

[username]

I don't like his comments either. "...good things will come of this"? For who?

Plus, NO mention of wishes that the perpetrator(s) get brought to justice quickly, "prayers" for LE who are working on his wife's case. shock expressed that this could happen to his lovely wife and their unborn child. Nada. It's like he's trying to sweep it under the rug...already.

And his "focus"...that's all peachy but he could have added "...and cooperate with law enforcement agencies in any way possible to find my wife's killer".

Guilty.

[Blindgreed1]

My theory on husband's guilt, and again I'm just hypothesizing:

I believe it'll come to light that they were in some real financial trouble, maybe even to the point where their house is heading into foreclosure.

Whether it'll be related to gambling, other women or something else, that's my take on why he FELT he needed to do this.

So, he shot her at some point in the morning, staged the robbery, checked in at the gym for the alibi, and then returned. That trip to the gym also allows him to ditch the murder weapon.

We'll see.

I was going to go with "the lord spoke to me and asked me to send her to heaven" and later we find out he has 12 year olds chained to chairs in his basement.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't like his comments either. "...good things will come of this"? For who?

Plus, NO mention of wishes that the perpetrator(s) get brought to justice quickly, "prayers" for LE who are working on his wife's case. shock expressed that this could happen to his lovely wife and their unborn child. Nada. It's like he's trying to sweep it under the rug...already.

And his "focus"...that's all peachy but he could have added "...and cooperate with law enforcement agencies in any way possible to find my wife's killer".

Guilty.

The statement rubs me wrong too - he didn't mention his unborn baby, mentioned his dead wife only once, mentioned his surviving son only once......but mentioned himself over a dozen times.

This subsequent statement was weird to me as well.
"(This Sunday) We are going to worship, share the gospel through sharing Amanda’s story, laugh together and cry together. Her heart would be that you invite as many people as possible to this celebration service that do not know the Lord," Davey Blackburn wrote in the Resonate Church post.

It reads to me like he's telling people to bring strangers to his murdered wife's celebration of life ceremony as a recruiting opportunity to grow his business. That's what she would want, he suggests. Weird.

[HairOfTheDog]

Some Background

Amanda Blackburn was the daughter of Phil Byars, the head pastor at First Baptist Church of Elkhart, Indiana. She is also grieved by her sister and her mother.


Amanda met Davey Blackburn on a blind date. Her sister, Amber Byars, was dating Davey Blackburn's friend Gavin Wilkinson at the time. The four of them are pictured above.

Amanda and Davey dated for a while, mostly from a distance, and got married in 2008. Davey Blackburn worked as an Assistant Pastor for the 30,000 member New Spring Church in South Carolina. https://newspring.cc/

In 2012, they moved to Indianapolis to start their own church, Resonate, with the backing of New Spring Church. Resonate Church focuses on connecting people with Jesus, advising members in regards to relationships, purity, sex, etc... http://resonateindianapolis.com/our-story/

The couple had their first child last year and had just announced to the church membership that they were expecting another next year.

Amanda Blackburn was 28. I hope whoever killed her is identified and brought to justice soon.

RIP Amanda Blackburn.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Crime / Investigation


Amanda was shot in the head in her Indianapolis home (^) sometime before 8:30 in the morning on Tuesday, 11/10/15. Her 1-year-old son was in the home, but he was unharmed.

Her husband, Davey Blackburn, reportedly discovered her on the floor when he returned home from the gym at 8:30 a.m. that morning (it has not been released as to what time he left for the gym). The home was released to Davey Blackburn soon after Amanda was put on life support in the hospital so her organs could be donated. CSI techs went back to the home again yesterday.

Indianapolis Police said yesterday that Davey Blackburn is not suspected of killing his wife. They have surveillance of him coming and going from the gym that morning. They also have home surveillance gathered from neighbors of the Blackburns. There was a home burglary 3 hours earlier in the same neighborhood, so police are also investigating to determine if there's a link.

Well, all that may be true. But, unless Police have video of someone coming and going from the Blackburn house (or their DNA) and they've ruled that person out as knowing the husband or anyone associated with the Blackburns -- and unless police somehow established the exact time of the shooting exceedingly quickly -- I think pretty much everybody is still a suspect outside the media lights.

Anyway, it's very unusual for burglars to shoot women in the head. But, maybe Amanda shot first? It's not clear if she was armed or not, only that somehow police know that she was trying to "protect her baby" when she was shot.

Also, it's been reported that in his 911 call, Davey Blackburn stated that his wife had been "assaulted" (not "shot"). So, maybe she fought back against the perpetrator before she was executed?

A lot of unanswered questions.

Refs:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/.../75637162/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-shot-dead
http://www.elkharttruth.com/news/crime-f...oting.html

[Midwest Spy]

Man, I'd hate to be wrong about this, but first and foremost, home invasions with the homeowner inside are rare as HotD pointed out, and, even more rare is someone being murdered during the crime.

It's so extremely convenient that he's away while this happens.

Who's to say she didn't confront him about something that morning and it escalated? Or, he simply hired someone to do it?

I know detectives are very good at what they
do, so I'm confident that if he did it, they'll get him.

For him to be so matter-of-fact about her and the unborn child's death is hard to fathom.

HotD, when you get a chance read up on the murder of Heidi Firkus. She was a young woman shot by her husband during a confrontation with an alleged home invader.

No charges have ever been brought, but to me, it's clear the husband murdered her and has gotten away with it to this point.

[HairOfTheDog]

HotD, when you get a chance read up on the murder of Heidi Firkus. She was a young woman shot by her husband during a confrontation with an alleged home invader.

No charges have ever been brought, but to me, it's clear the husband murdered her and has gotten away with it to this point.

Thanks MS. I just read up on the Heidi Firkus case: http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_25632...-they-know



Too bad the husband Nicholas Firkus has refused to speak with police since their initial interview.

I would like to know why he, armed with a double-barrel shotgun, had Heidi go downstairs with him to confront an intruder.

It sure doesn't sound like Heidi would have kept her parents in the dark about the impending eviction.

Did he get life insurance money? Was he involved with the couple's friend (his current wife) before Heidi's death?

I don't blame Heidi's parents and some investigators for being suspicious of Nicholas Firkus. But, there doesn't seem to be any evidence to support charges and keeping his trap shut is in his best interest if he was involved in Heidi's death (and possibly even if he wasn't involved). I think new eyes on the investigative force should try to arrange an interview and invite his current lawyer to be present. Couldn't hurt to try.

[Carsman]

Police are saying Davey is not the killer, they know who it is!

[Midwest Spy]

Police are saying Davey is not the killer, they know who it is!

They've got to be throwing out a red herring to get Davey to relax and let his guard down.

[Carsman]

Police are saying Davey is not the killer, they know who it is!

They've got to be throwing out a red herring to get Davey to relax and let his guard down.

I really hope to hell he didn't do it, that would be so very wrong!!
(Being a "Pastor" and all.)

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks for the update Cars. That's encouraging.

Hoping the suspects caught on surveillance have records and left some prints, or DNA, or something to that effect at the house.


Snip:
"We know who killed her, at least we have a picture of him, though we don't have a name," Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Capt. Craig Converse said. Police have not released any surveillance images of the suspect.

Assistant Commander Eric Hench said the suspect was seen by multiple witnesses in the suburban neighborhood where the Blackburns lived.

Witnesses said a man was seen walking in a hooded sweatshirt, and at least one reported the hood was "cinched down" to obscure the man's face.

"To the individual who committed this crime: You are not as good as you think you are. You left behind evidence," Hench said. He did not say what other evidence police had collected, though the head of a forensics lab was among representatives of a dozen agencies and police units who said at the press conference that they are working together on the case.

Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/indianapolis...veillance/

[HairOfTheDog]

Police say that there is no sign of forced entry into the Blackburn home, but they believe that the suspect robbed a house a few doors down and then saw an opportunity to enter the home when Davey Blackburn left for the gym at 6 a.m.

The suspect caught on film was described as a black male with a medium complexion and slight build, standing between five-foot-four and five-foot-nine.

Police chief Rick Hite encouraged people to come forward with information about the killer. 'You commit a heinous murder like this - you don't get a second chance,' he said on Friday. 'We're coming to get you. This is not acceptable.'

Legal experts told the Indianapolis Star that anyone connected to the crime could be charged with more than her murder because Amanda Blackburn was pregnant. A murder conviction in Indiana could send a person to prison for 45 to 60 years, and some are punishable to life in prison or the death penalty depending on whether the killer knew Mrs Blackburn was pregnant or how far along she was.

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z3rQEaiN6a