Local man charged with murder of Lafayette resident

Bloomington resident John R. Moore III has been charged with the murder of a Lafayette man.

The Monroe County courts filed the charges Thursday, according to a probable cause affidavit. The charges come after Lafayette resident Steven Morris was found dead on the morning of Oct. 19 in the 4000 block of Hartstrait Road in Ellettsville.
Moore’s former wife Laurie Moore told police John Moore arrived at her house in Ellettsville at 8:50 a.m.

He walked in and went into the upstairs bedroom where Laurie Moore and Morris were at the time, according to the affidavit.

John Moore told his ex-wife to take their son out of the room. As he told her this, Laurie Moore told officers she noticed he had a black gun with a brown handle.
Laurie Moore got her son out of another upstairs bedroom. As she was getting her son, she said she heard noises that sounded like John Moore was beating Morris, according to the affidavit.

Before Laurie Moore got to the stairway to go downstairs with her son, she saw that in the bedroom John Moore had Morris sitting on the floor next to the bed, according to the affidavit. John Moore was holding Steven down in the neck area with his hand.
As Laurie Moore was calling 911 from her kitchen area, she heard four to five gunshots, according to the affidavit. While she was still on the phone with the dispatcher, she saw John Moore’s car drive down her driveway toward Hartstrait Road.
Indiana State Police officers obtained a search warrant for John Moore’s apartment. John Moore walked in on officers while they were searching his apartment, according to the affidavit.

John Moore was taken to the Monroe County Jail.
Prior to the incident, Laurie Moore had filed for a protective order in the Monroe Circuit Court against John Moore III on Sept. 15 because of an incident this past August when she said he had gone to Lafayette to stalk the workplace and apartment of Morris.
John Moore III told Laurie Moore he had gone there with a bag full of things that could cause physical harm to Morris, according to the affidavit.

16-year-old raped in woods

A 16-year-old Bloomington girl reported that she was raped as she was walking through the woods to her friend’s house.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday, Canada said. The girl was walking in the area of 13th and Illinois streets from her house to her friend’s when she felt someone touch her back.

The man pulled down her pants and told to her to shut up, according to the report. He raped her and then left her in the wooded area, Canada said.

The girl ran back to her parents’ home and didn’t tell anyone about the incident until Thursday afternoon, when she was taken to the hospital.

The girl told police she does not know who the man was.

BPD asks anyone with information about the incident to contact the police station at 349-3306.


Bloomfield man faces charges of sexual battery

A Bloomfield, Ind., man was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery of a 17-year-old Bloomington girl.

The incident was reported on Thursday when Bloomington police officers were dispatched to the Bloomington Transit bus station on Fourth and Washington streets, said Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada, reading from a police report.
The sexual battery incident occurred on Tuesday after the girl’s boyfriend had been arrested, according to the report. She was looking for a friend to help her raise bail money when she ran into “St. Louis,” whose real name is Hawthorne Roosevelt, Canada said.

Roosevelt, 36, who knew the girl before the incident, offered her a ride in his van to look for her friend, according to the report. The two drove around Bloomington for a while. Then the girl went to the Monroe Bank to get some of the money for the bond.
They then drove to a liquor store where Roosevelt purchased alcohol, according to the report. He started to drink and then asked her if she was working undercover for the police, Canada said.

According to the report, the girl denied the allegation, but he insisted she had to take her clothes off to prove this.

The girl took her clothes off to show that she was not an undercover cop, according to the report. Roosevelt tried to touch the girl inappropriately while the van was still parked at the liquor store, Canada said. She told him to not do that and began to put her clothes back on. After she got dressed, he exposed himself to her, according to the report.

After the incident, he drove her to the jail but was not able to raise enough money to post bail for her boyfriend, Canada said.

The girl identified Roosevelt for the police on Thursday. They located him and questioned him on the incidents. He said he does not remember the events that the girl said happened, Canada said.

Roosevelt was taken to jail where he faces preliminary charges of sexual battery.