Indianapolis woman killed in alleged domestic violence shooting was looking to leave

INDIANAPOLIS — Loved ones of Bethany Collette say she was the person shot and killed early Monday morning inside an apartment near Shadeland Avenue and Fall Creek Road in Indianapolis.

13News learned SWAT team members entered the apartment and found a male suspect and a female victim with gunshot wounds. Both were taken to hospitals in critical condition. The woman was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

“In my head and in my heart, I wanted to believe it was someone playing a sick joke, but unfortunately it wasn’t,” said Randy Collette, Bethany’s ex-husband. 

Collette said he and Bethany were married for about 20 years before they got divorced but had remained friends. He said Bethany never mentioned anything to him about domestic abuse, but had alluded to something going on the day before she was killed.

“She did send me a couple pictures of an injury she had on her hand that looked fairly recent, because you could still see the blood stain around the skin tissue and it looked like a deep laceration on her hand, but when I asked her about it, she told me, ‘That’s the reason why I need to get out of here,’” said Collette.

So far this year, we’ve seen multiple people killed in domestic violence.

“This is not something that survivor has done to themselves, this is a crime that is perpetrated against survivors of domestic violence,” said Caryn Burton with the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Last week, 13News’ Chase Houle caught up with Burton, who tracks homicides linked to domestic violence. She said in 2024, more than 100 people were killed as a result of domestic violence throughout Indiana.

“Until it ends up in a fatality, it is typically the survivor’s behavior that we look at and we say, ‘Well, what did they do? Why didn’t they do something differently? And that’s one of the reasons why survivors become victims,” said Burton. 

Burton said if someone knows a person in a domestic violence situation to be supportive of that person and hear them out instead of judging them.

Police have not said what the relationship is between Bethany and the man and at last check, IMPD is still investigating.