'Big part of my heart': Funeral held for woman killed in Mitthoefer Road stabbing
When they were kids, Susie DeLoach and her younger sister used to make up dances together.
“We were best friends,” DeLoach said. “As we got older, we kind of gained different interests and had different lifestyles, but she is and will always be a big part of my heart.”
Marianne Weis, 52, was found dead with stab injuries on the east side of Indianapolis on Feb. 1. In the month since her sister was killed, DeLoach has tried distracting herself from the grief by working on preparations for the funeral and celebration of life, which were held Saturday.
Weis had five children and worked as a bartender, server and hairdresser. Before she was killed, she was staying with friends not far from where her body was found in the 2100 block of North Mitthoefer Road.
“She had challenges, but everyone has challenges in their life,” DeLoach said. “It's awful the way she was taken from us.”
Investigators believe Weis and 58-year-old Shannon Juanita Lassere were both killed by David Hiner. Lassere was found dead on Jan. 27 in a parking lot off North Mitthoefer not far from where Weis was found dead a few days later.
More: Shannon Juanita Lassere was four children and grandmother to 15
Both women had similar injuries and surveillance video captured Hiner and Weis together the night of her death. Detectives found dried blood on shoes in the apartment where Hiner lived and preliminary DNA analysis of the blood showed a match to both women, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
DeLoach has connected with loved ones of Lassere since the women were killed and started a GoFundMe campaign to support both families.
“We are all bonded for life now,” DeLoach said.
'She finally trusted the wrong person’
DeLoach remembers how her sister liked to dance, ride motorcycles with her father and was a hard worker. While preparing for the funeral, DeLoach has thought about the last concert she and Weis went to together.
It was a Pat Benatar show in Nashville, Indiana, during the summer of 2023, but the sisters enjoyed all kinds of music together.
“I never thought that would be our last one,” DeLoach said.
From her teenager years at Warren Central High School and beyond, Weis never knew a stranger, her sister said.
"She finally trusted the wrong person,” DeLoach said. “She was super trusting of people her whole life.”
With her sister gone, DeLoach said it’s become her mission to make sure she and Lassere aren’t forgotten, and that justice comes for the person responsible for their deaths.
"Call the people you love,” DeLoach said. “Hang out with them more. We all get busy with our own lives and people are always going to have regrets when they lose somebody, but just make that effort to see people more.”
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Woman killed on Mitthoefer Road was mother to 5
