Pair accused in killing of Indianapolis man to face trial in Morgan County
MARTINSVILLE — Two people charged with murder and felony robbery in the 2019 killing of an Indianapolis man in northern Morgan County are set to face trial in February.
Justin Blake, 21, of Indianapolis, and Britney Overton, 27, of Mecca, were charged in October 2020 in connection to the homicide of 23-year-old Alexander Dashiell Jackson.
Jackson's body was found by a neighbor in the 11000 block of Mann Road on Sept. 13, 2019, according to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. Neighbors told detectives that while they heard gunshots in the early morning hours of Sept. 9, they did not call authorities as they frequently heard shots fired in the area, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Sgt. Mark Anderson with the county sheriff's office.
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For the next four days, Jackson's lifeless body remained in a ditch on Mann Road. Due to the body's badly decomposed state, police needed access to dental records to make a positive identification, according to the affidavit.
Suspicions of foul play were later confirmed by an autopsy report that concluded Jackson died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Detectives at the scene also noticed blood on a tree and rocks near the body, along with six shell casings from a Glock 9mm handgun.
It took nearly 11 months of conducting interviews, obtaining search warrants and cell phone records and sifting through private conversations on social media for authorities to compile enough evidence to charge Overton and Blake with murder and felony robbery.
Less than two weeks after Jackson's body was found, police obtained a search warrant for a 2018 blue Hyundai Elantra that Jackson had rented from Enterprise shortly before his death. The vehicle, found abandoned and wrecked off Thompson and Tincher roads, was impounded by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Sept. 12 — three days after authorities say Jackson was shot and killed.
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Inside the vehicle, police found four keys on a keychain, including the key to a Buick that detectives believe belongs to Overton, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by the sheriff's office. Detectives also noticed that the faceplate for the radio was missing, leaving the radio exposed. They scrubbed the radio for fingerprints, which would later match with Justin Blake.
About one month after the shooting, detectives received a call from a relative who said that Blake confided to her that he shot and killed Jackson out of fear that Jackson would shoot him. When police went to interview Blake, who was detained in the Hendricks County Jail on an unrelated charge, to confirm this information, he denied having any involvement in the homicide.
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Detectives also used pings from nearby cell phone towers in the area to pinpoint the location of Blake's and Overton's mobile phones at the time of the shooting. The records place Overton's phone less than a half-mile from the crime scene, and just meters from the accident scene of the blue Hyundai days later.
In reviewing Facebook records, detectives also determined that Overton removed Jackson from her Facebook account about 30 minutes after the shooting, court documents stated.
While several other associates of Jackson were interviewed by authorities, none were linked to the crime.
The murder weapon has not been located.
Blake has pleaded not guilty in the case, in which Overton is named as a co-defendant. Both are being held in Morgan County Jail without bail.
A pre-trial conference in the case is scheduled for Jan. 24, with a jury trial slated for 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 9 in Morgan County Superior Court I.
Contact reporter Peter Blanchard at 765-346-2942 or pblanchard@reporter-times.com. Follow him on Twitter @peterlblanchard.
This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Murder trial scheduled for pair accused of killing Indianapolis man
