Indiana
Woman saves neighbors during blaze at NW Indiana mobile home park: 'I got them all out'
Woman rescues neighbors from devastating fire in NW Indiana
An early morning fire in Gary, Indiana, destroyed several trailers and displaced dozens of residents.
GARY, Ind. – An early morning fire in Northwest Indiana left dozens without homes on Saturday.
One resident, Amanda Stoddard, is being hailed as a hero after alerting her neighbors to the danger.
Amid the ashes, Stoddard sifted through the remnants, searching for fragments to rebuild her life after the fire claimed everything.
“The flames were coming through my window, in my living room and in my front bedroom,” Stoddard said.
The fire occurred in the 1900 block of West Ridge Road in Gary, Ind., before 6:30 a.m.
Stoddard woke to flames and had to make a split-second decision.
“The trailer next door to me was fully engulfed, and the only thing I knew to do was to get everybody out because they go so fast. So I did. I woke up every neighbor, the whole trailer park really, and got them all out in time,” she said.
Stoddard sprang into action, saving her neighbor John Denomie and his dog.
“Not only did she save my life, but she saved my dog’s life and my dog went through a hard life. He was a rescue,” said Denomie.
He suffers from a hearing disability.
“Amanda kicked my door in and because I’m, I’m hearing impaired. Can’t hear when people are knocking on my door. She kicked my door in as the trailer next to me, the flames were getting closer and closer to my trailer,” said Denomie.
The fire raced through the mobile home park, destroying three trailers and a car before the Lake Ridge and Gary fire departments arrived.
The trailer park owner, John Petrassi, tried to battle the flames himself.
“I came out in my boxers, no shoes and ran down the street. Tried to put the fire out with that hose right there. The hose melted,” said John Petrassi.
An hour and a half later, the fire was out, but the damage was already done. Four trailers and two cars were destroyed.
The American Red Cross stepped in to support the four displaced families as they grapple with what comes next.
Amid the uncertainty, one feeling prevails: gratitude.
“The outpouring is just something else. Everybody’s doing what they can to help people. So, you know, as far as that goes, yeah, I’m grateful that I’m still standing here talking to you,” said Denomie.
The Gary Fire Department is investigating the cause of the blaze.
Indiana
Indiana AG seeks execution date for death row inmate convicted in 2010 killings of two children
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Wednesday asked the Indiana Supreme Court to schedule the execution of death row inmate Jeffrey Weisheit.
The filing came just eight days after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in Weisheit’s case.
He was sentenced to death in 2012 for the murders of 5-year-old Caleb Lynch and his 8-year-old sister, Alyssa Lynch, who were killed in a Vanderburgh County house fire in 2010.
In a verified motion filed with the state’s high court, attorneys for the state argued that Weisheit has exhausted all available avenues of review and that no active stay remains in place to prevent his execution.
The state requested that the court set an execution date 30 to 45 days after granting the motion.
“For more than 15 years, the family of these two innocent children has waited for justice,” Rokita said in a Wednesday statement. “A jury lawfully convicted Weisheit and sentenced him to death. That sentence has been upheld through every level of the judicial system. It is long past time to carry out the sentence.”
Weisheit killed the children during the early morning hours of April 10, 2010, according to court records. Prosecutors said he “hog-tied” Caleb and placed railroad flares in the boy’s underwear before igniting them and fleeing the home. Alyssa was also inside the residence when the fire spread through the house, killing both children.
Authorities later apprehended Weisheit in Kentucky after a high-speed chase. Court records indicate he threw a knife at pursuing officers before being taken into custody.
A Vanderburgh County jury convicted Weisheit in 2012 of two counts of murder and recommended a death sentence after finding multiple aggravating circumstances, including that both victims were younger than 12 years old. The trial court subsequently imposed the death penalty.
The case has spent more than a decade moving through state and federal courts.
The Indiana Supreme Court upheld Weisheit’s convictions and death sentence in 2015. His request for post-conviction relief was later denied, and the state’s high court affirmed that decision in 2018.
Weisheit then turned to federal court, filing a habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in 2020. The petition was denied in 2022, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the decision last August before rejecting a rehearing request the following month.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on June 8.
Indiana
Indiana mom killed protecting son during Facebook Marketplace robbery, 18-year-old suspect arrested
A heroic Indiana mother was killed when she stepped in between her son and an 18-year-old gunman who had pulled a firearm on them during a Facebook marketplace sale.
Jean Gragg, 40, and her teenage son were selling a watch to prospective buyer John Ford during an arranged meet-up on the front porch of their Edison Park, Ind., home near the University of Notre Dame on June 10, South Bend Police said.
Gragg’s son had planned to sell the watch to Ford just before 10 p.m.
Family friends said the exchange was common for Gragg’s son, who has made sales through Facebook Marketplace “many times before.”
Ford allegedly pulled out a handgun while he was inspecting the timepiece.
“When Jean stepped in to support her son, the man went over the edge,” family friend Debra McKinley wrote on a GoFundMe.
Gragg, an office manager for H&R Block, wedged herself between the two teens and pushed the suspected gunman away and off her property.
Ford allegedly fired multiple shots at Gragg, who was walking up her driveway back to her home as her horrified family watched.
She was struck in the head by one of the rounds.
Nearby security cameras captured Gragg falling to the ground as Ford ran away, according to court records viewed by WSBT.
Gragg was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition before she was declared brain-dead. She was taken off life support by 6 p.m. on June 13, McKinley said.
“My superhero,” Gragg’s son told WNDU.
Gragg was remembered as a traveler who enjoyed spending time with her son and friends.
“She was a nurturer, if anyone close to her was sick, you could count on her to take excellent care of you,” her family said in an online obituary. “Jean was a dedicated, wonderful mother, very loving and caring, always putting her son first down to her very last breath. (He) was her whole world.”
Ford was tracked down to an apartment complex 2 miles from the scene of the shooting.
Police had also found the suspected gun dumped over a fence at the complex.
Ford allegedly admitted to shooting at Gragg during an interview with police.
He has been charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery in the shooting.
Ford is being held at the St. Joseph County Jail without bond, according to police.
Indiana
‘My whole body did not feel right’: Indiana residents protest data center projects
Protesters in Merrillville, Indiana, gathered outside a private event for Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to voice concerns about data centers. Fox Chicago’s Bret Buganski reports live from the demonstration.
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