A stolen sweater, ATM receipt, and cell phone records were key clues in tracking down the men suspected of killing Amanda Blackburn. The two men facing murder charges are 21-year-old Jalen Watson and 18-year-old Larry Taylor Jr. According to the probable cause affidavit, the sweater and receipt for were found in the stolen Chrysler Sebring police believe was used in the crime. Police found the car in the 3800 block of Rockwood Avenue. Court documents state the receipt came from an ATM located at a Chase Bank off Michigan Road. Investigators said the debit card used on the receipt matched Blackburn’s.
Investigators got a warrant to search a camera on the machine. Video during the time the card was used showed the stolen car and the driver. Court documents state the video showed the driver wearing a hoodie while also covering his face with a pink sweater. Investigators ran a DNA test on the sweater and got a hit on Jalen Watson. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said that was the first major break in the case. According to the documents, Watson was on parole for burglary.
Cell towers determined the third suspect’s phone was also used near that location. The documents state the phone later moved to a tower on Sunnyfield Court around 6:25 a.m., about the time of the shooting. About a half an hour later, the phone moved to a tower near the Chase Bank off Michigan Road. It then moved to another Chase Bank off 86th Street where investigators determined the debit card was used again. During this time, phone records show the third suspect’s phone made several calls to a cell phone located on Sunnyfield Court. The third suspect’s phone was then tracked back to Sunnyfield Court to pick up the person walking along the street around 7:10 a.m.
Around that time, surveillance cameras from a neighboring home caught an image of a man walking on the sidewalk. In the court documents, witnesses told police they saw the man talking on the phone before getting picked up in a car. Investigators researched phone numbers associated with the person walking on Sunnyfield Court. It was found in “Backpage” ads online. Court documents state the phone number was associated with Larry Taylor Jr. through previous police reports. The phone number was tracked to an address on South Meridian Street where police found Taylor. He admitted to police that the phone belonged to him.
Later in the documents, a “cooperating individual” told police that Taylor admitted to killing Blackburn after she charged at him. The individual told police Taylor admitted to shooting Blackburn in the upper body, then in her head as she was laying on the ground.
=== The plea agreement for Watson also involved a Nov. 3, 2015, rape and burglary at Westlake Apartments, near Interstate 465 and Rockville Road. In that case, Watson agreed to plead guilty to burglary with a deadly weapon. Charges of theft, robbery, criminal confinement and auto theft were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Watson and Larry Jo Taylor Jr., 20, were each charged with murder and additional felonies related to Nov. 10, 2015, burglaries at three homes, including the Blackburn home. Court documents describing the investigation said Taylor “caused termination of a human pregnancy” when police say he shot and killed Blackburn. Taylor is scheduled for a five-day jury trial April 2 in the Blackburn case. He is scheduled for a three-day June 11 trial on charges in the Westlake Apartment rape and burglary and in the robbery and killing of Rolando Gonzalez-Hernandez on Nov. 4, 2015 in the 4500 block of Candletree Circle. Another person, Diano Gordon, 26, faces two counts of murder and additional criminal charges in relation to the Blackburn case, the three home burglaries and the Westlake Apartments rape and burglary. Gordon is scheduled for pretrial conferences Nov. 17 in two of the three court filings, according to online records.
