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Amanda Blackburn case: Suspect arrested in slaying of pastor's pregnant wife

Larry Taylor of Indianapolis was arrested on a preliminary charge of murder in the death of Amanda Blackburn. 

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(Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)
This frame grab from surveillance video provided by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows a possible suspect walking in the neighborhood where an Indianapolis pastor's wife was shot. Police say Amanda Blackburn, 28, was shot in the head during an attack in her home on Nov. 10, 2015 and died the next day. She was 13 weeks pregnant.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Indianapolis

Indianapolis police announced Monday they have arrested an 18-year-old man in the shooting death of a pastor's pregnant wife during an apparent home invasion.

Larry Taylor of Indianapolis was arrested on a preliminary charge of murder in this month's death of 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn. Officers from the department's gang and violent crime units arrested Taylor with help from U.S. Marshals, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department news release.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Taylor had an attorney. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office was expected to review the case.

"All victims of criminal homicides deserve closure, and as a community we must send a collective message that violence is not an option," Police Chief Rick Hite said in the statement. "Our detectives have worked tirelessly going days without sleep to solve murders in our city."

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Lt. Richard Riddle said last week that a resident recovered a gun in a front yard of a home just blocks away from where Amanda and Davey Blackburn live.  “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,” said Lt. Riddle.

Authorities said investigators would continue to follow all leads, including talking with individuals who may have knowledge of the case.

Blackburn was shot in the head during the attack on Nov. 10 and died the next day. She was 13 weeks pregnant and the child did not survive, a family spokeswoman has said. The Blackburns also have a 15-month-old son, who was upstairs in a crib at the time of the attack.

Investigators believe the suspect, whom neighbors also reported seeing walking in the area, may have seen Blackburn's husband, Davey, leave early in the morning to go to a gym shortly after the suspect allegedly burglarized a nearby house. Police had sought the public's help by circulating images of a man caught on home surveillance cameras.

The Blackburns moved to Indianapolis from South Carolina to found the independent Resonate Church in 2012. 

“He (God) is what made Amanda special; He is why we’re celebrating her life; He is why we loved her so much, because He just radiated out of her,” South Carolina pastor Perry Noble said at a memorial service earlier this month.

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