INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana homeowner accused of fatally shooting a house cleaner who went to the wrong house has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors said Nov. 17.
Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood charged Curt Andersen, 62, with a Level 2 felony in the shooting death of Maria Florinda Ríos Pérez de Velázquez, a 32-year-old wife and mother of four. Andersen was booked into the Boone County jail on a no-bond hold, pending an initial court hearing, according to online jail records and prosecutors.
Officers found Ríos Pérez, a Guatemalan immigrant, dead on the front porch of a residence on Nov. 5 in Whitestown, an Indianapolis suburb. She was shot in the head and died in her husband's arms, according to charging documents.
Police said Ríos Pérez and her husband, Mauricio Velázquez, were part of a cleaning crew who had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address. Velázquez previously told the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the couple was trying to find the right key to the home when he heard a shot and caught Ríos Pérez as she fell.
Prosecutors' decision to charge Andersen comes nearly two weeks after the shooting that has sparked debates across the country about "stand your ground" and Castle Doctrine laws. During a news conference on Nov. 17, Eastwood said his investigation determined that Andersen's actions do not fall within the legal protections provided by the state's "stand your ground" law.
