Charges of murder and felony robbery have been filed against two men in connection with the homicide of a Hobart man whose body was found June 13 next to a Portage fishing pond, a case Porter County Sheriff Balon called “a heinous crime,” but authorities are mum so far on further details in the case.
The charges and new arrest warrants related to the death of Derek Wiliam Hartz, 35, were issued Wednesday for Domonic Brothers and Jada Monroe, according to a release from Sgt. Ben McFalls, public information officer for the Porter County Sheriff’s Office.
According to online court records, each is charged with two counts of murder and a single count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. Monroe’s case has been assigned to Porter Superior Court Judge Michael Fish and Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer has Brothers’ case.
The two are in custody at the Hamilton County, Ohio, jail on a warrant issued last week for felony auto theft charges in the case, since police said the pair stole a car belonging to Hartz and his mother and crashed it on a highway in Cincinnati after a police pursuit.
“I would like to extend my condolences to the victim’s family,” Balon said in a release. “This was a senseless act of violence and I am pleased that the suspects accused of this heinous crime have been arrested and will be held accountable.”
The new charges, said Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann, are sealed for the time being. Both he and McFalls said the investigation is ongoing.
Preliminary autopsy results showed a cause of death for Hartz as multiple blunt force trauma and sharp object injuries of the head and chest, according to a release from Porter County Coroner Cyndi Dykes. An autopsy was conducted June 15 and his death was ruled a homicide.
Monroe is also known as Jawon Martin and Brothers also uses the last names Weaver and Barnes, according to court records.
According to charging documents for the auto theft cases against Monroe, 28, of Danville, Virginia, and Brothers, 27, of the 4300 block of East 11th Avenue in Gary, a fisherman reported finding Hartz’s body around 10:30 a.m. June 13 on a small trail at the Chustak Public Fishing Area, 331 West County Road 600 North, a 76-acre public fishing area just off Indiana 149 in Portage Township along Salt Creek.
Police arriving at the scene noted the male, identified as Hartz through fingerprint records and pictures on file with the sheriff’s department, had excessive bleeding from what appeared to be blunt force trauma to the skull, according to charging documents. He was laying on a small trail at the edge of the creek on a deflated air mattress. The deceased was naked from the waist down and clothing was found next to him.
Police notified Hartz’s mother, with whom he lived and shared a car. She told investigators Hartz had taken their shared car sometime after 4:30 a.m. on June 13 and left her a note that he was going to see a friend, according to court records.
Crime scene technicians located two Virginia identification cards in a fanny pack located under Hartz. They belonged to a person named Jawon Martin, also known as Jada Monroe. At that point in the investigation, police didn’t know if Jada Monroe was “another victim, suspect, or missing person,” according to the charges.
Police tracked the stolen car from Indiana and into Michigan, and then to Lake County, where Hartz’s phone, which was stolen with the car, was discarded. The last mapped location for the car was the 4300 block of East 11th Avenue in Gary.
Police put out a nationwide alert for the stolen car “and ping for the cellphone belonging to the identified suspect/victim/missing person was requested due the exigency of the unknown circumstances,” documents state, referring to Monroe.
The ping indicated the cellphone was southbound on Interstate 75 headed into Cincinnati. Officers there pursued the car, which crashed while fleeing from police, documents state. Monroe was identified as the driver and taken into custody after a foot pursuit, as was Brothers, a passenger in the car.
Brothers, who had a Virginia identification card, also has two active warrants through Porter County. One is for misdemeanor counts of theft and drug possession, and the other is for misdemeanor theft, according to online court records.
Brothers was charged in Cincinnati with obstructing official business while Monroe was charged with fleeing and eluding, receiving stolen property and failure to control a vehicle, according to online records from Hamilton County.
Balon thanked all of the public safety agencies that came together for the investigation, which also include Porter County 911; Indiana Department of Natural Resources; Valparaiso Police Department; South Haven Fire Department; Lake County Sheriff’s Office; Merrillville Police Department; Hobart Police Department; Gary Police Department; Ohio State Police; St. Bernard Police Department (Ohio); Cincinnati Police Department; and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
“The cooperation between all of these agencies was remarkable and I would like to thank each of them for their assistance,” Balon said.