A 32-year-old woman was fatally shot Wednesday morning after she and her husband mistakenly went to the wrong house to perform a cleaning job, police said, in a case that has drawn shock from the local community and prompted a prosecutor review.
Authorities identified the victim as Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez of Indianapolis. Whitestown officers responding to a report of a possible break-in found the woman dead on the front porch and a man later identified as her husband alive but devastated. The Boone County coroner said she died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Police said the couple were members of a cleaning crew who had been given the wrong address for the job. Investigators recovered a firearm at the scene and have interviewed all individuals involved; the department forwarded its findings to the Boone County prosecutor, who will decide whether any criminal charges should be filed.
Family members described the scene as sudden and horrific. The victim’s brother and husband have said the couple had been cleaning homes for months and that the husband did not immediately realize his wife had been shot until she collapsed into his arms. A fundraising page and local obituaries say she was a mother of four and a devoted caregiver to her children.
The shooting has revived questions about self-defense and “castle doctrine” statutes in Indiana and elsewhere — laws that allow homeowners to use force in defense of their homes and how they are applied in cases that later prove to be mistaken identifications. Officials have urged the public to await the prosecutor’s review and not to speculate while detectives complete forensic work and interviews.
Whitestown officials and community leaders expressed condolences and called for a careful, transparent review of the evidence. The victim’s family is making funeral arrangements and supporters have begun raising funds to help the children left behind.
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