Voluntary manslaughter charges were filed Monday against Indiana homeowner Curt Andersen for the fatal shooting of Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez, a 32-year-old cleaning woman and mother of four who mistakenly arrived at his Whitestown residence on Nov. 5, ABC News reported. Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood announced following a "comprehensive examination" that Andersen's actions failed to meet Indiana's Stand Your Ground law protections, stating, "It's our contention that the person did not have a reasonable belief that that type of force was necessary, given all the facts that he had at that time." Andersen remains held without bond in the Boone County jail awaiting a court appearance this week.
Whitestown police responding to a pre-dawn 911 call reporting a possible home invasion discovered Velasquez's body on the front porch with a gunshot wound to the head, with investigators determining "the facts gathered do not support" any actual break-in occurred. The victim belonged to a cleaning crew that had mistakenly arrived at an incorrect address, police established. Her husband Mauricio Perez-Velasquez, who was with her during the incident, told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV in Spanish: "I never thought it was a shot, but I realized when my wife took two steps back, she looked like she'd been hit in the head," adding, "She fell into my arms, and I saw the blood. It went everywhere." The couple, who had been cleaning homes for seven months, left behind four children, with the youngest being 11 months old.
Defense attorney Guy Relford expressed being "disappointed" with the charge and stated they "look forward to proving in court that his actions were fully justified by the 'castle doctrine' provision of Indiana's self-defense law," arguing, "Contrary to the contention of the prosecutor – and without discussing the specific facts of the case – we believe Mr. Andersen had every reason to believe his actions were absolutely necessary and fully justified at the time." Relford continued that "We also believe that Mr. Andersen's actions are being unfairly judged based on facts that were unknowable to him as events unfolded that early morning," insisting, "The law does not allow a criminal conviction based on hindsight" and that "Instead, Mr. Andersen's actions must be evaluated based on the circumstances as he perceived them. For all these reasons, the castle doctrine clearly applies, and I look forward to defending Mr. Andersen in court."
Family attorney Alex Limontes, standing with Velasquez's relatives including her husband, called the charge an "important step towards accountability, truth and justice, and it's a step that Maria's family deserves," stating, "On the morning Maria was killed, she was simply arriving to clean a home," and noting, "As we all know, Maria never made it inside the house. She was shot through a closed door." He emphasized: "Maria was a mother, a wife, a sister, and a valued member of our community. Her life was taken in a manner that should never happen in any neighborhood in Indiana." Through their attorney, the family stated they "demand justice so that other families do not have to go through what we are going through."
Prosecutor Eastwood characterized such cases as "very rare" in Boone County while condemning "false and misleading information" spreading since the shooting, including incorrect claims the shooter was a police officer, declaring, "This must stop immediately," warning it "does not help the process. It does not help this case. It undermines the integrity of the judicial process. It spreads confusion and it harms both the victim's family and the accused's right to a fair trial." Regarding his charging decision following the "thorough and professional" investigation that included witness statements and crime scene diagrams, Eastwood acknowledged people who said they were praying for him "because we know you have a difficult decision to make," but responded bluntly: "Honestly, it wasn't," adding, "I hate to sound cavalier about this, but it wasn't a hard decision."
According to the probable cause affidavit, Andersen told police a "commotion" at his front door awakened him, leading him to see two people at the entrance whom he assumed were breaking in, prompting him to retrieve his gun, with the affidavit stating: "Curt described the individuals were 'thrusting' at the front door to get in with what he described as getting more and more aggressive." He fired toward the closed door, with investigators finding a spent cartridge casing on the interior stairs. Velasquez's husband told police he heard "just the one shot" without any voices from inside and applied no force to enter, explaining their employer had provided keys in advance and GPS directions led them to believe they were at their assigned model home, with approximately two minutes elapsing from arrival to his 911 call, including 30 seconds to one minute attempting access with the provided keys. When informed the victim was a cleaning woman who had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address, Andersen "became upset and immediately put his head down on the table," the affidavit stated, noting, "After some time, Curt said he didn't mean for anything to happen to anybody."
