BEAN BLOSSOM — A Brown County man who was charged with killing the mother of his children 25 years ago was booked into jail Sept. 7 on a new attempted murder charge, this time for an attack on his brother.

However, by the time Kenneth Wayne Guy, 58, appeared in court Sept. 9, he was only being charged with aggravated battery, criminal recklessness and resisting law enforcement.

“We can always add charges. We are currently awaiting further evidence in an ongoing investigation to asses our ability to prove attempted murder beyond a reasonable doubt,” Prosecutor Ted Adams said.

The highest charge Guy faces now is a Level 3 felony; attempted murder was a Level 1.

A news release from the sheriff’s department said police found David Guy, 56, lying in the front yard of 5529 Old Settlers Road with a head injury at about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 6. He told police that his brother, Kenneth Guy, had hit him with something.

A third party had called police to report one man had shot another at the David Guy house.

David Guy had wounds on both sides of his head, according to a probable cause affidavit from Sgt. Mike Moore of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department. He told Moore he had been sitting on his porch eating dinner and his brother was moving items out of the house.

Their sister told police that she received two voicemails that night: one from Kenneth that made no sense, and another from David that said, “Kenny has shot me and hit me in the head with a baseball bat. Call police.”

Moore reported finding a kitchen knife, a butcher knife and several drops of blood where David Guy said he was sitting.

In the garage, officers reported finding a cutting scythe on the floor just inside the door that appeared to have blood on it.

An ambulance took David Guy to Columbus Regional Hospital, and he was transferred to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in stable condition.

Hospital staff told police that one of the injuries appeared to be a gunshot wound, and they found evidence of debris fragments in the wound that could be from a bullet, the report said.

Police found Kenneth Guy, 58, standing behind a home on Melvin Road. Moore reported that he ran from officers for about 75 yards before he fell.

After he was taken into custody, Moore reported that Guy appeared to have a seizure and was taken by ambulance to Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital under police guard.

Police searched his car and reported finding a baseball bat and an air rifle in the front seat area.

In the Old Settlers Road home, police reported finding a .22-caliber rifle in David Guy’s bedroom. They also found several items of drugs and drug paraphernalia in the home, the report said.

Kenneth Guy was booked into the Brown County jail around 4:30 p.m. Sept. 7 on initial charges of attempted murder, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and battery with moderate bodily injury.

He appeared in court Sept. 9 by video conference from the jail. He told the court he is unemployed and living on $800 a month in disability, but he had no way to access that money. He was appointed public defender Alicia Allen.

When Judge Judith Stewart read the charges against him and asked if he understood, he said, “Not really. I don’t remember none of that.”

He said “wow” several times when Stewart told him the sentencing range for the highest charge, aggravated battery, which is three to 16 years in prison.

“I wouldn’t have done that,” he said.

His jury trial was set for Nov. 30.

Accusations of violence

Kenneth Guy was arrested and charged with murder in December 1991 after police accused him of shooting and killing the mother of his two young children in Covelo, California. The children witnessed it, police said.He was later found not guilty of second-degree murder by reason of insanity, according to a 1993 story in the Ukiah Daily Journal of Mendocino County, California.

Sheriff Scott Southerland confirmed that this was the same Kenneth Guy.

Guy, who was 33 at the time, had moved to California with Shalom Angela Moore, who was 23 at the time of her death, six years earlier. Both had lived in Brown County before running away together to California.

Moore’s body was found along a back road near Covelo, in northern California. She died from a single .44-caliber gunshot wound to the back, according to The Republic newspaper archives.

A story from The Daily Journal (Johnson County) archives said on the day of her death, the couple argued before leaving in a van. Guy rammed the gate leading from their property as he was leaving and the van broke down a mile later.

The couple and their children got out of the van and began to walk, the story said. Police were called to the area after a driver reported seeing a man pointing a gun at a woman on the road. When police arrived, they found Guy and the two children running on the road toward Covelo, the story said.

Once Guy was in custody, police discovered Moore’s body, the story said.

His attorney said when Guy was found not guilty by reason of insanity, she expected him to be transferred to a mental health hospital, and his time there could range from 180 days to his entire life depending on when he was restored to competency.

Where he went and for how long is unclear.

After the murder charge in 1991, no other California criminal court records show up for a Kenneth Wayne Guy until 2006.

His Indiana record includes only a traffic infraction in 2014 and a drug possession charge in 2015 in Greenwood, according to online court records.

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While investigating the Sept. 6 incident on Old Settlers Road, Sheriff Scott Southerland made a drug arrest.

The sheriff was standing in the driveway of the home to secure the scene when a Kia SUV with a New York license plate drove into the driveway and grass and began to drive around him and police cars.

Four people were in the SUV, including front-seat passenger Eric C. Shaber, 64, Evansville, who had rented the vehicle, the police report said.

Southerland asked Shaber to exit the vehicle so he could talk with him about the altercation between the Guy brothers.

Shaber was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with pockets in the front and Southerland saw something heavy in the pocket, the report said.

The sheriff removed two glass pipes from Shaber’s pockets along with napkins and a damp cloth, the report said.

In the vehicle, Southerland reported finding a bag of hypodermic needles on the floor; Shaber said they were his and he was diabetic.

In Shaber’s wallet, Southerland found a small bag of methamphetamine inside. He told the sheriff he found it on the floor of the car and hid it in his wallet because he didn’t want anyone else to see it, the report said.

Shaber was charged Sept. 7 with possession of paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, and possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony.

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