CHESTERFIELD, Ind. —
A local man who shot his girlfriend before killing himself at her Chesterfield home Sunday morning was facing charges for child molestation, police said Sunday.
At 6:39 a.m. Sunday, police responded to reports of a shooting at 419 Vasbinder Drive in Chesterfield.
Inside the home, police found the body of 36-year-old Aaron L. Wagers, who had been living at the location with his girlfriend, Megan Rider, 25.
Police also found Rider in critical condition at the home. She’d been shot, and was rushed to Saint John’s Hospital where she died at 7:30 a.m.
Chesterfield Police Capt. Steve Mullen said it appears that Wagers shot Rider before killing himself sometime around 4 a.m. Sunday morning.
The pair wasn’t discovered until sometime after 6 a.m., when Rider’s father arrived home from work.
The couple had been living together in the father’s Vasbinder Drive home.
Investigator Ermal Allen of the Madison County Coroner’s office said both victims died from a gunshot wound caused by a 44-calibur weapon.
After clearing the scene, Mullen said, “It appears obvious what has happened.”
When Mullen arrived on scene, Rider was still alive but was non-responsive, he said.
Just last week, Mullen said, Wagers was released from jail on bond after turning himself into police on child molesting charges.
The child molestation complaint, filed in May of 2010, alleges that Wagers had sexual intercourse and oral sex with a girl between June 1, 2007, and May 30, 2009.
Although the age of the child was not available Sunday, Indiana state law stipulates that child molesting charges apply only to children under the age of 14.
Wagers was facing three counts of Class A felony child molestation.
Each charge is punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison if convicted.
On Jan. 9, Wagers turned himself into police.
He stayed in the county jail until his release on bond last week.
A neighbor of the Riders who asked that he not be named said he had been suspicious of Wagers.
“She (Megan Rider) had some idiot living with her. I could tell he was no good,” the neighbor explained.
The neighbor said he tried to convince Rider’s father to kick Wagers out of the house. “I said ‘that guy needs to go. He’s going to cause you trouble.’”
Wagers’ jury trial would have begun at the end of May.
Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com.
Cops, courts and fires
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Police say they found the victims of a murder-suicide at this Chesterfield home Sunday morning. Brandi Watters
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Man kills girlfriend, self
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