Gary man charged as accomplice in Howell murder
A Gary man faces charges as an accomplice in a woman’s murder at the Willows Apartments.
Christin Washington, 33, is charged with assisting a criminal, a Level 5 felony, and failing to report human remains, a misdemeanor.
He is in custody, held on a $3,000 cash bond. A court date is not yet set.
Charges against the murder suspect appear to still be sealed.
Det. Brian McCall wrote he was called around 7:26 a.m. March 19 to 400 block of Clark Road in Gary where Breanna L. Howell was found lifeless, lying face up on the sidewalk.
She was shot once in the chest. The Lake County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide. McCall also noted bruises and scratches on her neck.
Security footage showed two men, including someone who resembled Washington, carrying a “heavy object” out of the building and sitting on the sidewalk where Howell was found. Washington went back inside.
Washington told police first he was not there when she was shot.
Later, he said Howell and a man were arguing on a sofa when Washington heard a gunshot.
“Why did you make me do that,” the alleged shooter said to her.
The man had choked Howell at some point that evening, court records state. Washington said he and the other man both left after the shooting.
Second man charged in deadly drug buy
A Hammond man has been formally charged with buying the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed his friend.
Anthony Salinas is charged with one count of dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death, a Level 1 felony and two counts of dealing in a narcotic drug.
He is in custody, held on a $5,000 cash bond.
Hammond Police responded at 2:34 p.m. Aug. 2, 2023, to 169th Street and Delaware Avenue in the city’s Hessville section for a white Hyundai “parked” at a stop sign.
Two men were inside. Salinas was passed out. The other, Juan Sepulveda, 49, of Hammond, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose the next day. Cops found a baggie with “pink” powder in the car.
Court records show the men went to Lakeside apartments in East Chicago less than an hour earlier to buy heroin from “H,” the alleged dealer Theodis Jackson. Salinas bought heroin from Jackson for the past month.
The parking lot drug deal was captured on camera.
Jackson is also charged.
Child porn charges dismissed
Prosecutors dismissed child porn charges in January against a man who testified in a Winfield nurse’s murder, records show.
Harminder Singh-Heera, 23, was charged with three counts of possession of child pornography.
Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal wrote in court filings they were unable to prove the case.
Police found it on his iPhone as they were investigating 36-year-old Haley Losinski’s Feb. 27, 2023 death inside her Winfield townhouse on the 11200 block of Pike Place. Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force detectives wrote they found two videos when Singh-Heera gave police permission on Feb. 28, 2023 to search his phone in their case.
Both depicted girls in “sex acts” with adult men, the affidavit states. Their identities were unknown.
Raju Rawal, 68, of Merrillville was convicted and sentenced to 60 years for Losinski’s murder. He has appealed his sentence.
A local gas station manager, Rawal was involved with her. She also started seeing Singh-Heera, the brother-in-law of the same gas station’s owner, when Rawal went to India for a month.
Singh-Heera was ruled out as a suspect and took the 5th on the stand.
He is in the process of having the child porn case expunged.
