BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (IUSTV News) - New court documents are painting a clearer picture about the moments leading up to the reported murder of a Bloomington woman on Nov. 4.
The probable cause affidavit says that officers responded to a home along E SR 45 around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning for reports of a man shouting outside.
Neighbors reportedly told police the people who live at the home fight often.
Court documents say that when officers arrived, they found 34-year-old Bryce Leighton in front of the home and had "a bright red liquid consistent with the appearance of blood" on his clothes and hands.
During a search of the home, police found a woman lying dead in the garage with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. The Monroe County Coroner identified the victim as 48-year-old Tara Langley, of Bloomington.
Police also found an AR-15-style rifle and civilian-style stun gun.
Leighton was taken to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for questioning, where court documents say he was "hysterical" and "hard to understand."
During the interview, police say that Leighton had a "large red stain" on the right knee of his pants. When asked what had happened, detectives noted that Leighton said he was having flashbacks.
Court documents say that Leighton told police that he and Langley had been in a dating relationship for the last seven years. The probable cause affidavit states that Leighton told police he was trying to leave the home on Saturday because Langley "got drunk," and "gets mean when she is intoxicated."
"She came at me," wielding a stun gun court documents say Leighton told police in the interview, and that "everything just went into a blur."
When asked if he was holding the gun at the time, court documents say Leighton answered "yes".
Upon further review of the crime scene, police say that Leighton was standing "just inside the exterior door of the garage," when the gun went off.
He was booked into the Monroe County Jail on a charge of murder, a level 1 felony.
