The 33-year-old woman who was killed over the weekend on Peoga Road was shot three times by another person, Brown County Coroner Earl Piper said today.
The cause of death for Ashley Minatel was three gunshot wounds to the chest, head and face, Piper said.
He is classifying the death as a homicide, but that does not necessarily mean that a crime was committed, he said.
No one has been charged in connection with this case. The investigation is ongoing.
“Basically, homicide just means the taking of one’s life by another individual, so intent has to be determined and defined by the prosecutor and law enforcement investigating the circumstances of the case,” he said.
“I am just listing it as a homicide because it was a death of one individual by the actions of another individual.”
Det. Brian Shrader is conducting interviews relating to the case today, Sheriff Scott Southerland said.
The sheriff does not believe that the community is in any danger.
He said the shooting happened during a domestic incident. “Strictly by definition, it would be (a domestic incident), yes, but there’s more to it than that,” he said.
He would not say who fired the shots.
A 35-year-old man was at the scene when deputies arrived at the home in the 3800 block of Peoga Road, near the Brown-Johnson county line, just before noon Sunday. Minatel’s body was in the front yard.
The man and Minatel both lived at that address, Southerland said.
That man was taken in for questioning and was later released, a press release from the Brown County Sheriff’s Department said. He was the one who called police to report shots fired, Southerland said.
The only other person at the home was a 3-year-old child. Southerland said his officers are unsure at this time if the child witnessed anything.
He would not comment on what types of guns were used, how many guns were in the home or who owned them.
“What we don’t want to do is prematurely speculate or put out information that when we gather all of the facts and evidence, could prove what we’re saying is not accurate. We don’t want to guess,” Southerland said.
“I know that a lot of people feel differently about this. … But the police, we’re supposed to be neutral. We work for the defendant and for the victim. We gather the evidence and the facts,” he said.
All of the department’s findings will be turned over to the prosecutor’s office, who will then decide if charges will be filed.
“Homicide is killing another human, but it can be intentional, it can be accidental, it can be self-defense. It does not necessarily mean that they are culpable criminally for that,” Southerland said.
The sheriff’s department was assisted at the scene by Indiana State Police crime scene technicians, but no ISP detectives have been assigned to the case, Southerland said.
