INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Four people fatally shot last week in an Indianapolis drug house were slain after one of the suspects charged Friday in the killings opened fire as he was searching the home for a safe, court documents state.
Kenneth “Cody” Rackemann faces four counts each of murder and felony murder as well as robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges in the Feb. 20 killings on Indianapolis’ south side.
Rackemann, 24, was allegedly searching for a safe inside the home when he started shooting those inside, according to court documents filed Friday along with charges against him and three other suspects, who appeared before a Marion County judge for their initial hearings.
Authorities said Rackemann fatally shot three people and wounded a fourth before he ran out of bullets, The Indianapolis Star reported (https://indy.st/1hJD1Ao ). He then allegedly called in 21-year-old Valencia Williams, who had accompanied him to the house and was sitting in a car outside, to kill the fourth victim, a probable cause affidavit states.
Williams killed Hayley Navarra, 21, as the wounded woman begged for her life, according to the affidavit.
“Hayley kept saying she wasn’t going to say anything about the shooting, essentially begging for her life,” a witness told investigators, according to the affidavit.
The other victims killed were: Kristy Mae Sanchez, 22; Jacob Rodemich, 43; and Walter Burnell, 47, all of Indianapolis.
Court documents state that after Navarra was fatally shot, Rackemann, Williams and 20-year-old Samantha Bradley grabbed cellphones, purses and the shotgun before fleeing the home.
Williams faces one count of murder, four counts of felony murder and charges of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. Bradley faces four counts of felony murder and charges of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
A fourth person charged in the killings, Anthony LaRussa, 26, was not present in the home during the shootings, but helped set up the robbery, according to court records. He faces four counts of felony murder as well as robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges.
Court documents state that LaRussa had been a frequent visitor at the house and that he and Burnell had bought and sold large quantities of narcotics from each other.
The house was allegedly owned by a drug dealer and authorities say Rackemann worked security at the home, from which large quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana and prescription narcotics were being sold, the court documents allege.
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