Police still are investigating a Peoga Road shooting last month that resulted in the death of a 33-year-old woman.
Ashley Minatel was found in the front yard Feb. 19 at her home in the 3800 block of Peoga Road, near the Brown-Johnson county line. Coroner Earl Piper said she had been shot three times — in the chest, head and face.
No one has been arrested in the case, and police are not sure yet whether anyone will be.
On March 22, Sheriff Scott Southerland said his department was awaiting the results of forensic testing from the Indiana State Police lab.
Prosecutor Ted Adams said he expected it would take a “few months” to obtain the case in its entirety. “I will reserve any decision (to file charges), of course, until I receive these reports,” he said in an email March 20.
Piper classified Minatel’s death as a homicide, but he said that does not necessarily mean that a crime was committed. He said that only means that her death occurred by the actions of another individual.
A 35-year-old man was at the scene when deputies arrived. He was taken in for questioning and was later released. That man had called police to report shots fired. He and Minatel both lived at that address, Southerland said in February.
Southerland said last month that the shooting happened during a domestic incident, “but there’s more to it than that.”
He said he did not believe that the community was in any danger but could not elaborate on those comments.
