Two face murder charges in killing of pastor's wife

INDIANAPOLIS - Authorities charged two young men with murder on Monday in the fatal shooting of a pastor's pregnant wife during a home invasion that happened after the minister left the couple's Indianapolis home without locking the front door.

Amanda Blackburn, 28, was found partially nude, with her underwear nearby and her shirt pulled up, lying in a pool of blood on her living room floor. She died one day after the Nov. 10 attack on Indianapolis' northwest side.

Her husband, pastor Davey Blackburn, told police he had left the home's front door unlocked when he departed about 6 a.m. that morning to go to the gym and work out and returned home about 8:20 a.m. to find his wounded wife. The couple's 15-month-old son, Weston, was at home upstairs in a crib but was not harmed in the attack.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry identified the two men charged with murder as Larry Jo Taylor Jr., 18, and Jalen E. Watson, 21, both of Indianapolis, who face murder, burglary, theft, and several other charges. A probable cause affidavit says that Taylor shot Blackburn three times, including once in the back of the head.

Watson also faces a murder charge because Blackburn was killed during a burglary in which prosecutors allege that he was involved.

It was not clear whether Blackburn, who was 13 weeks pregnant, had been sexually assaulted even though she was found partially nude, Curry said.

"The investigation will continue, including any further forensic analysis that's appropriate or ongoing," he said.

The affidavit says the two men entered the house through the unlocked front door that morning after they had robbed two other homes, including one in the same neighborhood. A third man allegedly involved in the burglaries remained outside in a Chrysler Sebring stolen from the first home burglarized that day. That man has not yet been charged in the crimes, but Curry said he is being held on a parole violation in an unrelated case.

Watson and Taylor were both being held Monday at the Marion County Jail. Both were scheduled for initial court hearings Tuesday.

Watson was released from prison Aug. 6 after completing his second sentence for burglary within the past three years, according to online records from the Indiana Department of Correction.