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Indianapolis man charged in death of woman found in alley on city's near north side

On the morning of Feb. 12, 2022, police found Cynthia Shouse in an alley in the 2600 block of Winthrop Avenue, near East 25th Street and North College Avenue.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Prosecutor's Office has charged a 44-year-old Indianapolis man with reckless homicide in the death of a woman found in an alley on the city's near north side in February 2022.

On Wednesday, IMPD detectives arrested Tyrone Barnes in connection to 43-year-old Cynthia Shouse's death.

(NOTE: The video above is from a previous report on the Marion County Coroner's Office ruling the woman's death a homicide.)

Police found Shouse face-down on East 26th Street, between Winthrop and Guilford avenues around 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 12. She was pronounced dead at the scene. When police found her, she had some bruising and blood on her face, and her pants were partially down.

According to the probable cause affidavit, surveillance footage from a nearby business showed a white BMW sedan pull into the alley shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 12. The video shows the driver exiting the car, pulling someone from the passenger's side, then driving away.

The video showed some movement from the victim's body until about 9 a.m., including crawling across East 26th Street, but she never got up.

In April, the Marion County Coroner's Office ruled Shouse's death a homicide and said she died from hypothermia, with contributing factors of blunt force injuries to the head and acute alcohol and methamphetamine intoxication. The temperature on Feb. 12 was approximately 25 degrees.

Police found the BMW in front of a nearby home on Guilford Avenue, and talked to Barnes, who was inside. Barnes went to the IMPD Homicide Office to give a statement, where he admitted to meeting Shouse at a bar the night of Feb. 11.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Barnes said Shouse agreed to go home with him, then later said she only wanted to have sex in the car. While in the car behind his home, Barnes said Shouse bit him while kissing, and he shoved her away.

Barnes said he decided to take her home, but she became "agitated" on the way, and he decided to drop her off in an alley. Barnes told detectives she was conscious at the time but said he left her on the ground. In searching his car, police found a hearing aid in the back seat that matched one found on Shouse at the time of her death.

Barnes' initial court hearing is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.

Anyone with additional information about the incident is asked to call Det. Jeremy Ingram at the Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or email him at Jeremy.Ingram@indy.gov. Calls can also be made anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.

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