Police: Aurora Murder Victim Was Beaten To Death

Leigh Jennings

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Investigators announced that no charges have been filed regarding the murder of an Aurora woman.

 

Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard during a Friday morning press conference that there is a suspect, but no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed in the murder of Leigh Jennings.

 

“The investigation is ongoing,” Negangard said.

 

Aurora Chief of Police Bryan Fields said Jennings was murdered on March 29, a full week before she was discovered dead in her apartment by friends.

 

“The cause of death has been determined that she died as a result of multiple skull fractures from blunt force trauma,” said Fields. “The victim’s family has been advised of the status of the investigation.”

 

Fields would not comment on what the murder weapon may have been.

 

SEE EAGLE 99.3'S VIDEO OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW.

 

Fields said the suspect is not in position to harm anybody else.

 

People who knew Jennings said she was friends with Charles “Steve” Stephenson, a Florence resident who attempted suicide Monday when he was going to be questioned by police regarding the 67-year-old’s murder. He remained in custody at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence. 

 

Stephenson is a nephew of 74-year-old Florence couple Bill and Peggy Stephenson, who were murdered last May in their home on Ridge Edge Court. The case has gone unsolved without a single arrest.

 

While he would not name or deny the suspect’s identity, Fields confirmed that the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and Boone County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office is assisting Indiana law enforcement with the investigation.

 

Other than that information, Fields declined to release anything further.

 

He does want the public to know that investigators are working feverishly on the murder case.

 

“We have committed a tremendous amount of resources to this investigation with the Indiana State Police, the Aurora Police, and Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department. I don’t know how these individuals have maintained any semblance of their personal life because they’ve spent every waking minute investigating this. I know at some point they spent probably over 40 hours without any rest, any sleep, anything,” Fields said.

 

Two of Leigh Jennings’ friends attended the press conference. They said that Jennings may have met the “person of interest” through her job cutting hair at Jim Young’s Barber Shop in Florence.

 

She may have communicated with the person via Facebook. The friends said Jennings would have the man over for dinner twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays.

 

Investigators are continuing to follow up on all leads in the case. Anybody with information about Leigh Jennings’ murder is asked to call Aurora Police at (812) 926-1101 or Indiana State Police at (812) 689-5000.

 


Video streaming by Ustream

 

LINKS:

 

Announcement Friday In Aurora Murder Case

 

Friend: Murder Victim Was Nurturing, Animal Lover

 

Friend Of Murder Victim Remains Hospitalized

 

Aurora, Florence Murders May Be Connected

 

Aurora Murder Investigation Continues

 

Death Investigation Underway In Aurora

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