weird news – Indiana Infamy

Man Murders, Mutilates Father after Mistaking Him for Robot

_{“I need to know for sure that that is a robot that looks like my dad before I shoot at it,”}
_{Shawn Hays wrote on Faebook.}

A Lawrence County man has been arrested and charged with nine felonies in connection with his father’s murder.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on the evening of December 20th, Lawrence County Central Dispatch received a call requesting a welfare check on 73-year-old Mitchell man Rodney Hays. The caller told police Rodney’s son Shawn, 53, had made some troubling Facebook posts over the past week, including at least one in which he claimed someone had abducted his father and replaced him with an identical robot. The caller then went on to explain that, in a private phone conversation, Shawn said he had shot and mutilated the impersonating automoton.

Deputies went to the home the father and son shared, arriving just as a Chevy pickup pulled away from the house. Due to the nature of their visit, deputies intercepted the truck, preventing it from leaving the scene.

Behind the wheel sat Shawn Hays. A shotgun rested beside him in the passenger seat.

Confronted by police, Shawn became combative and refused to exit the vehicle. When questioned about his father’s whereabouts, he said Rodney was “over there” and made a vague motion toward their residence. “It’s a robot that looks like a human… laying over there,” he said at one point during the exchange. “I had to shoot at it to destroy it.”

While one of the deputies talked to the obviously-disturbed man, distracting him, the other deputy was able to grab the gun out of the truck. A brief struggled ensued before the two officers removed Hays from the pickup then placed him in handcuffs.

A search of the property quickly led to the discovery of Rodney Hays’s lifeless body laid out in his own front yard. He had been shot in the head and chest, his corpse mutilated.

Shawn allegedly admitted to the murder and dismemberment in a later interview. However, he continued to insist he had not harmed his father but, rather, a robotic replica. Police charged him with nine felonies, including murder, aggravated battery, reckless homicide, domestic battery, battery, abuse of a corpse, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, pointing a loaded firearm and obstruction of justice, as well as a misdemeanor of resisting law enforcement.

He is currently in custody at the Lawrence County Jail in Bedford.

Man Who Vandalized Washington Monument is from Indiana

Why is it whenever the phrase “Indiana man” appears in the news, it’s never about anything good?

44-year-old Indiana man Shaun Ray Deaton, of Bloomington, was arrested Tuesday evening after allegedly vandalizing the Washington Monument. According to details in the affidavit filed by the United States Park Police, Deaton is accused of defacing our nation’s most phallic public memorial by using red paint to scrawl “Have you been f**ked by this” (with an arrow pointing up) and “Gov says tough shit” on its marble base. Perhaps not coincidentally, he reportedly had a paint brush in his possession and red paint on his clothes when apprehended at the scene.

After pleading not guilty to initial charges of trespassing, tampering and vandalism, the suspect was released and ordered to return for an October 11th hearing.

Although no official motive has been given, Deaton’s brother said he was recently laid off and denied disability.

This Day in Infamy: Charles Manson in Juvenile Court

*_{Clipping from the}*_{Indianapolis News}

March 7, 1949 – Charles Manson, a 14-year-old petty criminal from Indianapolis, learned Juvenile Court Judge Joseph O. Hoffman had granted his request to be transferred to Boys Town in Nebraska. Local priest Reverend George Powers, who helped facilitate the request, referred to the future cult leader and mass murderer as “a very genuine lost little kid.”

This Day in Infamy: Win, Lose, Draw

A newsworthy moment from February 9, 1871

Weird News: 1937 Cryptid Sighting

Fort Wayne Police Say Couple Attempted to Sell Their Daughter

_{Allegedly terrible parents Se Dar Be and Sadid Mot}

The holiday season is again upon us and, if there’s anything more inevitable than the dazed, horror-stricken look of retail workers, it’s being reminded that although the weather outside can be frightful, people are much, much worse.

It’s that kind of story. You have been warned.

On December 20, 2020, Fort Wayne PD received a call from an anonymous source stating that her friend—a minor— was being forced to marry an adult against her will that very night. Officers went the scene, where they interrupted what generations past would’ve politely referred to as a “child wedding” in progress. Zee Kdee Ya, the 27-year-old prospective groom and possible ephebophile, was taking the hand of a girl only 13 years old.

Wearing a veil, dress, and make-up, the would-be child bride told police her parents had signed a wedding contract against her wishes the week prior to the ceremony. Despite saying she “didn’t want that,” the girl had been forced to move in with Ya and share his bed since then. When she resisted his attempts at sex, he reportedly quoted biblical passages to suit his purpose and said “I own you now, I can make you do what I want.” The victim sought help from her parents but, according to court documents, they said she “needed to have sex with Ya because he was now her husband.”

When questioned, the girl’s mother claimed the victim was only getting engaged and wouldn’t actually get married until she was 18. However, Se Dar Be then went on to admit the family had received gifts from the groom in return, including cash, and that she had “used the $2,000″ he’d paid to provide food for the party to celebrate the highly illegal wedding (plus buy that makeup for the victim). The father, Sadid Mot, told police the girl had been living with Ya but denied knowing anything about the money.

Ya confirmed both the mother’s claims concerning the gifts and money, as well as the father’s claim that the girl had been moved in with him, but denied forcing her to share a bed. He then went on to say that because the girl had cancelled the wedding, he wanted his money and jewelry back.

The Department of Child Services had reportedly told both father Sadid Mot and too-eager groom Ya that the nuptuals were against the law due to the girl’s age “on multiple occasions prior to Dec. 20.” Mot and mother Be were charged with one count each of Child Selling and Neglect of a Dependent. Ya was also charged with Neglect of a Dependent, as well as Child Solicitation.

Weird News: The Hot Pocket Bandit

_{Brian McCurren, a.k.a. The Hot Pocket Bandit, shown in a 2014 photo.}

Back in March of 2014, former Notre Dame student Brian McCurren got a little too intoxicated and broke into a South Bend spa. Once inside Theraputic Indulgence, he caused thousands of dollars of damage then ate all of their Hot Pockets.

*_{Image may not accurately reflect the actual Hot Pockets in question.}*

According to police, Brian McCurren made several break-in attempts before successfully throwing a 100-pound flowerpot through the door. Once inside the spa’s breezeway, he then found a hammer and tunneled his way through the drywall into the main part of the business.

*_{He must have really wanted those Hot Pockets.}*

After reenacting digDug and discharging a fire extinguisher for unknown reasons, Brian was a very hungry boy who decided it was a good time to make himself a snack or three. He tried to make macaroni and cheese but burned it, setting off the fire alarm. Then he ate all of the spa’s Hot Pockets, which begs the question what kind of spa serves Hot Pockets? Finally, he attempted to eat a plate of drumsticks but passed out on top of them first, which is where police found him.

“The way I understand it,” Sara ros Frazier, owner of the spa said, “he had a grin on his face and he had no idea where he was or what he did.”

This Day in Infamy: Five Robbery Suspects Lynched in Versailles

On this day in 1897, a vengeful mob broke into the Ripley County Jail and forcibly removed five robbery suspects before lynching them. The vigilantes strung up the suspects’ naked and battered bodies from an elm tree about two blocks from the jail then dispersed a little before 1 AM. It is believed that an estimated 250 people were present during the hanging. Approximately only 800 people lived in Versailles at the time.

The lynching victims were identified as:

LYLE LEVI, 57, shot through the breast then dragged to the tree and hanged

WILLIAM JENKINS, 27, skull crushed in with a stool, noose put around neck,
body dragged to the tree and suspended
HENRY SCHULER, 24, skull crushed, body dragged to the tree and suspended
CLIFFORD GORDON, 22, bound, dragged to the tree and hanged
ALBERT ANDREWS, 30, bound, dragged to the tree and hanged

Category: weird news