INDIANAPOLIS (November 17, 2015) – Crime Lab technicians are currently analyzing a handgun that was found not far from the home where Amanda Blackburn was killed last week, according to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police.
IMPD Lt. Richard Riddle says a resident in the 2900 block of West 42nd Street found the weapon in a front yard four days after Amanda Blackburn was killed. The person took the handgun to an Indianapolis fire station, and it was then turned over to police. The location of the discovery is about a block and a half away from the Blackburn home in the 3800 block of Sunnyfield Court.
“It certainly is of interest to our detectives to see if that weapon has any connection to any crime in that area,” Riddle said. “But most importantly the Amanda Blackburn case at this point.”
The gun appeared to be clean and in good condition, indicating that it hadn’t been sitting in the front yard very long.
Riddle noted that handguns are found every day in Indianapolis. But the timing and location of the discovery has caught the attention of detectives working to solve Blackburn’s murder.
“Our detectives are looking at the caliber of the handgun recovered, to see if it does in fact match the caliber of the weapon used in the Amanda Blackburn case,” Riddle said.
If the gun is connected to the Blackburn case, Riddle said investigators will hope to find finger prints or other evidence on the gun or bullets inside, which will hopefully lead to a suspect in the case.
News of the discovery came one week after Pastor Davey Blackburn told police he returned home from the gym to find his pregnant wife shot in the head. It is believed the suspect or suspects entered the Blackburn home after seeing Davey Blackburn leave that morning. Investigators think the same suspect or suspects broke into another home down the street earlier that same morning. IMPD released two surveillance photos from another house on Sunnyfield Court.
Detectives think the suspect or suspects thought the Blackburn home was empty after Davey Blackburn left for the gym, and they intended to burglarize the house. Police have not said whether anything was stolen from the home.
Davey Blackburn appeared Tuesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to discuss his wife’s murder and their one-year-old son Weston.
“I think that’s probably one of the hardest things in this process is knowing that he’s not going to grow up with Amanda, because she was the perfect mom,” Blackburn said. “I wish every mom in the world could learn from her, I wish every wife in the world could learn from her.”
Blackburn reinforced detectives’ calls for anyone who has information about the case to come forward.
“We are trusting the investigators,” Blackburn said. “They’ve been so good to us through this whole process, trying to keep us up to speed on what they have and we trust that they are doing the best they can, told us they have all the resources at their disposal right now to catch who did this.”
Neighbors and friends of the Blackburns have offered a $1,000 reward for information that solves the case.
