While most students were away for winter break, life, including crime, continued in Bloomington. That included a an arrest for murder and a possible pipe bomb, which did not contain propellant and thus did not pose a threat, in Bryan Park.
“That couple of days was really busy for us,” Bloomington Police Department Capt. Steve Kellams said. He said the incidents were “obviously non-student-related.”
Kellams said break-ins and burglaries normally increase when students go on break. In recent years, however, BPD has increased patrols in student-populated areas during those times, and some apartment complexes increase their own security as well. This year he said BPD didn’t see much of an increase.
Murder
A Bloomington man arrested Dec. 20 on murder and other charges allegedly told witnesses to “let the motherfucker die,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Kenneth Duwayne Hawkins, 48, allegedly stabbed Michael Rainey with a butcher knife during a domestic dispute. Rainey, 46, suffered one stab wound on the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at IU Health Bloomington Hospital.
Police received a call about the stabbing, which occurred in Hawkins’s apartment on South Odell Drive , at 1:47 p.m. They arrested Hawkins on the scene without incident, took him to BPD for an interview and took him to the Monroe County Correctional Center thereafter.
Witnesses told police Hawkins had been arguing at the apartment with his girlfriend, Brenda Rainey, who is married to Michael Rainey. Michael Rainey was at an auto parts store with another witness, who got a phone call about the argument from a third witness. Michael Rainey said he’d go to the apartment to remove Hawkins.
Brenda Rainey told police Hawkins grabbed a butcher knife, locked himself and her in an upstairs bedroom and told her he’d stab her if she tried to leave during the argument. He allegedly punched her upper body and grabbed her arms to prevent her from leaving.
When Michael Rainey arrived, he confronted Hawkins in the bedroom. Hawkins told police Rainey attempted to strangle him on the bed. He blacked out, and when he came to, he found himself holding the knife and saw blood on the knife, walls and Rainey. He told police he thinks he stabbed Rainey to stop the choking.
Brenda Rainey, however, told police Michael Rainey had tried to pull Hawkins from the room. Hawkins picked up the knife from the bed and stabbed him. Michael Rainey walked down the stairs before collapsing on the floor, where other witnesses tried to administer CPR.
Brenda Rainey said Hawkins kicked Michael Rainey four times and said, “Hope he dies.”
In addition to murder, Hawkins is charged with domestic battery, intimidation with a deadly weapon and criminal confinement.
Aggravated battery
A Bloomington man was arrested Dec. 27 after he allegedly stabbed his father’s significant other multiple times.
Buddy P. Smith, 26, is charged with aggravated battery. According to a probable cause affidavit, Smith stabbed the woman, Heather Mullis, during an argument with her and his father, Buddy Panciera. Smith was arrested shortly thereafter and taken to the MCCC.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 10:42 p.m. call about the stabbing. Panciera told detectives Smith had shown up at the house where he and Mullis live and asked to come in. Panciera declined. Smith moved around Panciera and forced his way through the door.
Smith and Mullis began fighting, and Panciera intervened. Mullis’s daughter, who was also in the house, said she saw Smith holding a folding knife with a black blade and tried to warn her mother and Panciera; however, at the same time, Mullis yelled, “He stabbed me.”
Panciera pushed Smith out of the house. Mullis had been stabbed in the chest, and her hand had been badly cut.
Smith was arrested less than an hour after the call. According to the affidavit, Smith told an IU Police Department officer who assisted with the arrest that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone.
Intimidation
A woman was arrested Dec. 16 at Campus Corner apartments after she allegedly threatened her roommate in an argument about singing.
Aryanna B. Averhart, 19, of Nobelsville, Indiana, allegedly grabbed a knife during the argument, which resulted in a charge of intimidation with a deadly weapon. BPD officers arrested Averhart at 2:45 p.m. and took her to the MCCC.
The police report did not contain any additional details about the singing that sparked the argument, Kellams said. Though the arrest occurred at Campus Corner, no student with Averhart’s name appears in IU’s online directory.
Robbery
A transient man was arrested Dec. 13 on robbery charges after allegedly punching a clerk during a convenience store robbery.
Bennie W. Ferguson, 42, is charged with two acts of robbery and theft. Kellams said Ferguson spent much of the day in the convenience store on the day before his arrest. He charged his phone there and spoke with a clerk, who bought him a soda.
Ferguson asked the clerk if he would look away and let him take money from the register. The clerk declined. Ferguson then punched the clerk and took money from the register.
A possible pipe bomb found Dec. 20 at Bryan Park never posed a public danger, police said.
Officers responded at about 11 p.m. to a report of a suspicious item in the park’s parking lot on South Henderson Street, according to a press release from the Bloomington Police Department. They found a PVC pipe that appeared to have been fashioned into a pipe bomb.
Police called in the Indiana State Police Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team, which found the device did not contain any propellant and would have never been dangerous.
Strangulation
A Bloomington man was arrested Wednesday on strangulation and battery charges after he allegedly choked his roommate because he believed the man doesn’t do enough household chores.
Maxwell B. Foreman, 24, was arrested at his East Dixie St. home after BPD responded to a call. Kellams said the roommate told police Foreman had come downstairs and begun arguing with him and yelling and throwing cups at him. When the roommate began yelling back, Foreman put his hands around the roommate’s throat.
Foreman told police the fight began when he confronted his roommate about not doing chores.
Foreman was arrested at 7:20 p.m. and taken to the MCCC.
