Police in Indiana announced the arrest of a suspect in a cold case that has haunted the community for two decades. Michael Jerome James, 35, has been indicted by a grand jury for the murders of 10‑year‑old Blake Dickus and his stepmother, 26‑year‑old Chynna Dickus, according to the Franklin Police Department.
The killings occurred on July 24, 2006, when Sean Dickus returned home to find the bodies of his son and wife. Over the following 20 years the case remained unsolved, prompting the department to place billboards offering a $25,000 reward for information, later increased to $100,000 in September of last year.
Investigators used forensic science and persistence to build the case against James. The grand jury reviewed the evidence for three weeks before delivering the indictment. A statement from the Franklin Police Department emphasized that the families had carried the loss for two decades and that the department had never stopped seeking justice.
Johnson County Prosecutor Lance D. Hamner said the case inspired him to pursue a career as a prosecutor. He noted that the tragedy had remained with him since his first tenure as prosecutor in 2006 and that the case was a driving force behind his return to the office. He added that further details of the evidence or the grand jury’s deliberations could not be released.
