UPDATE: Terry D. Rutledge Sentenced to 62 Years For The Murder Of Tonia Ingram

Dec. 5, 2011

MUNCIE -- Local authorities now know the identity of the woman found slain Saturday morning on the city's east side.

Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn said 40-year-old Tonia J. Ingram, a Muncie mother of three and grandmother of four, was identified early Monday afternoon through an autopsy performed at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.

The cause of death was determined to be manual strangulation, Hahn said.

City police believe Ingram was killed Friday afternoon by Terry Donald "T Rose" Rutledge, 24, in a house in the 300 block of North Hackley Street. He was arrested several hours after the body was discovered early Saturday and has been preliminarily charged with murder.

Two other Muncie residents, Antowyn Tavares Warren, 33, and Regina N. Miller, 36, are accused of trying to help Rutledge dispose of the body -- found burning along North Gavin Street about 7:45 a.m. Saturday -- and taking part in efforts to clean up the scene of the murder, listed in court documents as Miller's home.

They have been preliminarily charged with assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.

Court and police documents released Monday paint a clearer picture of the events Friday and early Saturday that led to Ingram's death and the later arrests.

According to probable cause affidavits, Rutledge admitted to police that he was with Ingram Friday when he placed his hand over the woman's nose "until she stopped breathing and moving."

Miller, who told police she had no role in Ingram's death, said she arrived home about 3:30 a.m. Saturday to find Rutledge and Warren in her home, when Rutledge told her about "the body in the basement."

Miller said she "helped trim the (victim's) fingernails" and "helped in disposing of the (victim's) clothing, and some of (Rutledge's), into plastic bags while the (victim) was still in the basement."

According to the documents, Rutledge and Miller told police that Warren helped Rutledge remove the body from the basement and with "disposing of some physical evidence." Rutledge said he had called Warren earlier that morning and requested Warren bring him a can of gasoline and some bleach.

Warren told officers he gave Rutledge a can of gasoline, but insisted he never went into the basement to help remove the body.

According to the report, Miller told investigators that Ingram's body was placed in a red Chevrolet Blazer and that she drove, with Rutledge in the passenger seat, to Parker City and then back to Muncie's east side, where Rutledge "poured gasoline on the (dead) woman and lit her on fire."

Miller said they left the body burning and Rutledge then disposed of the two plastic bags containing clothing belonging to both him and Ingram, according to the report.

The burning body, found wrapped in a sheet or shower curtain, drew the attention of at least two motorists who called 911.

According to a Muncie Police Department case report, two city officers arrived on scene and saw a "small fire on the side of the road."

An officer took a fire extinguisher from the trunk of his patrol car and "approached the subject and saw that it was a white female."

He extinguished the fire and noticed a yellow material that "looked melted on and around the female."

The motive behind the slaying was still being investigated Monday. Vollmar said detectives were still "trying to tie a couple (of) loose ends."

Miller and Warren remained in the Delaware County jail Monday under $15,000 bonds. Rutledge was being held without bond.

Ingram's funeral is at noon Wednesday at The Meeks Mortuary and Crematory, Washington Street Chapel, according to Meeks' website. Burial will follow in Beech Grove Cemetery.
Friends may call at Meeks from 11:30 a.m. to noon Wednesday.


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Dec. 5, 2011

The Youth Opportunity Center. The Indiana Boys School. The Delaware County jail. The Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

"You can't comply with anything, evidently," Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Wayne Lennington told the then 18-year-old Rutledge before handing him a maximum sentence of eight years in prison on Nov. 27, 2006.

Rutledge, 24, was jailed Saturday after being accused of killing 40-year-old Tonia J. Ingram Friday afternoon in a home in the 300 block of North Hackley Street before disposing of her body along the side of a Muncie road early Saturday and lighting her on fire.

As a "child," Rutledge had been waived into adult court (Lennington's) on a charge of burglarizing a home at 1622 N. Brady St., on Nov. 9. 2005. Prosecutors said Rutledge, then 17 and the father of two children, was beyond rehabilitation as a juvenile.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Rutledge pleaded guilty to Class C felony burglary, after which prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges of criminal trespassing at the Muncie Housing Authority, disorderly conduct, possession of a firearm and domestic battery.

While awaiting sentencing on the burglary charge, Rutledge earned 45 misconduct write-ups at the Delaware County jail, where he was classified as a "super-max inmate," Lennington noted at the sentencing hearing.

The judge called Rutledge's conduct in jail "horrendous." It included allegations of being out of his cell without permission, intentionally flooding the jail, threats, harassment, multiple food violations, defacing jail property, provocative language, making false statements, refusing to obey orders, theft, being loud and boisterous and two non-consensual sexual acts.

"The things you did in jail, you probably should have been charged with sexual offenses," the judge told Rutledge. "You threatened people, you beat up people. You're a bully."

The judge continued: "Did you just enjoy doing that? You've been doing it since you were 10, haven't you? How do you expect me to find any reason to justify not giving you the maximum sentence? What were you carrying a gun for?"

The judge also noted that Rutledge was first admitted to the juvenile justice system at age 10. He was written up for misconduct numerous times at the Youth Opportunity Center and at Indiana Boys School, where he spent more than two years.

Rutledge's juvenile record included charges of battery, criminal recklessness, shoplifting, resisting law enforcement, disorderly conduct and escape.

Lennington also fined Rutledge $10,000.

The maximum sentence was appealed by Rutledge's public defender, who argued that Lennington abused his discretion and failed to acknowledge the defendant's two children, lack of education and lack of employable skills.

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the sentence.

Representing himself in prison, Rutledge twice asked the judge to release him early. "I've learned my lessons from being in here," he wrote to the judge.

He took anger management and substance abuse classes, studied to complete his high school degree, and said he would like to get a college education and take care of his children. His requests for early release were denied.

Rutledge's release from prison was delayed until March 30 of this year after his conviction on a battery charge while imprisoned.

Two months after his release from prison, Rutledge was jailed on charges of rape, kidnapping, battery and deviate sexual conduct after allegedly forcing a woman at gunpoint into an abandoned home at 703 E. Jackson St.

"No one will find you if I just kill you," the woman quoted Rutledge as saying during the assault.

After hearing that, the woman tried to flee but was caught and strangled into unconsciousness by the attacker, she told police. Her last image of the attacker before passing out was of him smiling at her while choking her, she said.

However, the charges were dismissed in September at the request of prosecutors, who said there was insufficient evidence against Rutledge after the victim declined to cooperate.

Rutledge's public defender, meanwhile, asserted an alibi defense, that Rutledge was at his mother's home at the time of the alleged rape.

On Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Louis Denney said Rutledge's DNA was not found at the scene of the alleged attack in May or on the victim.

Those facts -- as well as the alleged victim's reported noncooperation -- made it difficult for prosecutors to continue pursuing charges against Rutledge, Denney said.

"In my mind, I thought, 'Sounds to me like (Rutledge) may well have done it,' " Denney said. "But, you just don't know for sure when you don't have much evidence at all other than her testimony, and then you start having problems with that, and it gets to the point where sometimes you have to dismiss."

Muncie police also accused Rutledge of robbing and beating two women in April, but no formal charges have been filed in that case.

The two women reported to police April 15 that a black male had entered a friend's house, battered them and stole their cell phones.

Both women told Muncie police investigator Robert Scaife the attacker was known as "T Rose" and had threatened to kill both of them, telling them "that he has killed before and will do it again."

When one of the victims asked for her phone back, Rutledge allegedly punched her in her left eye, breaking her glasses and fracturing her cheek. It was uncertain at press time why charges were not filed in that case.

Rutledge was being held Monday at the Delaware County jail without bond.

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Dec. 27, 2011

MUNCIE -- Charges have been filed and trial dates set, but the investigation into the slaying of Tonia Ingram continues.

The 40-year-old Muncie woman's remains were found along Gavin Street the morning of
Dec. 3.

A few hours later, city police arrested Terry D. "T-Rose" Rutledge, who would later be charged with her murder. Authorities allege Rutledge, 24, killed Ingram in a house in the 300 block of North Hackley Street, likely on Dec. 2.

Also arrested that weekend were Antowyn Tavares Warren, 34, and Regina N. Miller, 36, each charged with assisting a criminal, a Class C felony carrying a standard four-year prison term.

Authorities say Warren and Miller helped Rutledge in his efforts to destroy evidence of his crime and dispose of the victim's body, which was set ablaze.

All three defendants are also charged with obstruction of justice, a Class D felony with a standard 18-month sentence.

According to court documents, prosecutors were granted permission to collect DNA samples -- obtained through oral swabs -- from Warren and Miller last week.

Those samples were gathered on the afternoon of Dec. 20, the records said.

Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said Tuesday the collection of such evidence was "just standard practice."

The slaying investigation could have other implications for Warren.

A Jan. 9 hearing is set on a request to revoke the Muncie man's probation in a 2010 case that saw him convicted of possession of cocaine. He is being held without bond in the Delaware County jail.

On Tuesday, attorney Mark Osterman entered an appearance as Miller's public defender, and asked that a bond reduction hearing be scheduled in her case. Miller has been held under a $15,000 bond since her arrest.

Rutledge, also being held without bond, is set for trial Feb. 13. Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Linda Ralu Wolf has scheduled a Jan. 4 hearing on a request by Rutledge's public defender, Ross Rowland, to move that trial to another county.

On Jan. 5, Rutledge is set to attend an initial hearing on five charges -- two counts each of robbery and theft, and interference with the reporting of a crime -- filed Friday in Wolf's court. That case stems from Rutledge's alleged attack on two women in a near-eastside apartment in April.

Warren's trial is set for
March 7, while Miller received a March 14 trial date.

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Terry Rutledge convicted of murder for killing Tonia Ingram and setting her remains on fire.

December 5, 2012



Terry D. Rutledge was arrested last year for killing Tonia Ingram and setting her remains on fire. Jurors decided on a verdict after about four hours of deliberations. Rutledge will face a prison sentence of 68 years—the maximum.

Rutledge’s attorney tried to portray him as a victim of an “elaborate conspiracy,” but prosecutors said Ingram was the sole victim. She was asphyxiated, investigators said, her remains set on fire and treated like trash.

Prosecutors said Rutledge gave investigators more than a dozen different versions of what happened leading up to and following Ingram’s death.

January 14, 2013
Calling Terry D. Rutledge "a person with a complete lack of empathy," a Delaware County Judge Linda Ralu Wolf imposed a 62-year sentence for Rutledge's murder conviction, stemming from the December 2011 slaying of Tonia Ingram, and added three years for an obstruction-of-justice charge.

The latter count referred to efforts to destroy evidence in the case, including setting the 40-year-old victim's body on fire along an eastside street.

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03/05/2012



A central Indiana woman facing charges in connection with a December killing said in court documents that she had no choice but to help the man's who accused of committing that crime.

The Star Press reported that Regina Nicole Miller, 36, of Muncie, said in her court filing that prosecutors know that Terry Donald Rutledge, 24, had threatened to harm her or her children if she didn't help him "in his illegal activities."

Miller is charged with assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice in the death of Tonia J. Ingram, 40.

Miller and a Muncie man who faces the same charges, Antowyn Tavares Warren, 34, are accused of helping co-defendant Rutledge after the killing of Ingram, whose body was set on fire.

Miller previously admitted to helping dispose of Ingram's body and told police that she saw Rutledge pour gas on the victim and set her body on fire, according to a probable cause affidavit.

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01-21-2013
The trial of a Muncie woman accused of helping Terry D. Rutledge hide evidence of a slaying has been rescheduled for June. Regina Nicole Miller is charged with assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice for allegedly helping Rutledge remove the body of Tonia Ingram from the basement of Miller’s North Hackley Street home on Dec. 3, 2011.
Miller’s trial had been set for March 18, but her public defenders were granted a continuance. Miller’s trial is now set for June 3, 2013