One Teen Charged, Two Others Detained in Rape and Murder of Indiana Pastor's Wife Amanda Blackburn

One teenager has been charged and police have detained two other men in the death of Amanda Blackburn, 28, a pregnant Indianapolis woman who was raped and shot in the head in her home on November 10. Authorities are claiming the three suspects referred to themselves as “The Kill Gang.”

According to Fox 59, 18-year-old Larry Taylor has been arrested and charged in Blackburn’s rape and murder; police say they believe he and two accomplices, named as Jalen Watson and Diano Gordan, are connected with one other rape in a local apartment complex as well as three other burglaries. Watson and Gordan are being held on parole violations, according to police. Their ages have not been made public.

Police say they believe the men were trying to break into the Blackburn’s home and confronted Amanda. They say they believe Watson and Gordan took her ATM card and left to withdraw money, while Taylor raped her as her 15-month-old son lay in his crib nearby, then shot her in the head. Her husband, Pastor Davey Blackburn, discovered her lying on the floor when he returned home from the gym. She died in the hospital two days later.

Blackburn’s death attracted widespread attention because of its brutality, and because Blackburn, a blonde, wholesome pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mother, seemed an unlikely target for violence. Davey Blackburn appeared several times on local and national TV outlets to plead for information in the case and to discuss the couple’s religious beliefs.

Davey Blackburn is a pastor at Resonate Church, which he and Amanda founded in 2012. A series of YouTube videos the two shot before her death have been widely viewed. The couple discusses their Christianity and their marriage.

Blackburn’s death has also become a cause celebre among a small group of conservatives who think her killing has been ignored in the national media (it hasn’t) because she was white, and because the suspect seen on a surveillance video was black. Stories on the case have been tweeted under the hashtag #WhiteLivesDontMatter. The virulently racist, anti-immigrant website VDare has claimed police were forced to “beg for help” from the public to solve the case, and writer Paul Kersey claimed Blackburn is part of a rash of “black-on-white homicides” in the area that are President Obama’s fault, basically:

But one thing is clear from a casual look at these random two black-on-white homicides in Indianapolis: As long as our rulers continue to glorify the “rights” of black thugs and criminals(excuse me, “justice-involved youth”), attempting to rehabilitate them instead of exacting the type of justice that Cheryl Trapuzzano demanded, more and more whites will have the future stolen from them. More white families will be destroyed.

In a news release, Indianpolis Police said a mugshot of Taylor is not currently available, which will — guaranteed— lead to more conspiracy theories.

Davey Blackburn hasn’t participated in any of the ghoulish, racist weirdness surrounding his wife’s death. He issued a graceful statement the day after she died, mourning the loss of the woman he called his “ministry partner and best friend.” He added that he and his son Weston will be taking time to grieve, and spoke about his wife’s deep religious faith.

Amanda made it her life’s calling to love and serve everyone she knew. Even more, she has made it her life’s mission to see as many people as possible come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. I know that in her death and legacy even more people will come to a saving faith in Christ. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt her desire for me would be to continue what we’ve started here in Indy. I hold firm to the belief that God is still good, that He takes our tragedy and turns it into triumph, and that the best truly is yet to come.

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