Police may have recovered weapon connected to Amanda Blackburn case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Authorities may have recovered a weapon used in the murder of the pregnant wife of an Indiana pastor last week, police said Tuesday.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Lt. Richard Riddle said a resident recovered the weapon in a front yard of a home just blocks away from where Amanda and Davey Blackburn live, according to FOX59. The person took the handgun to an Indianapolis fire station and it was turned over to the police and crime lab technicians are analyzing the gun.
“It certainly is of interest to our detectives to see if that weapon has any connection to any crime in that area,” Riddle said. “But most importantly the Amanda Blackburn case at this point.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FOX59 reports the gun appeared to be in good condition, which might indicate that it wasn’t sitting for long in the front yard of a home in the 2900 block of West 42nd Street. Riddle said handguns are found every day in Indianapolis, but the timing and the location of the discovery caught the eye of officials working on the Amanda Blackburn case.
“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,” Riddle said.
If the weapon is somehow connected to the murder, investigators will look for fingerprints or other evidence on the gun or bullets inside.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Investigators believed the attacker entered the family’s home on Indianapolis’ west side at around 6 a.m. last Tuesday after they noticed Davey Blackburn leave. The attacker broke into the home and shot Amanda Blackburn, while their 15-month-old son was in his crib upstairs. Blackburn, 13 weeks pregnant, died a few days later.
Davey Blackburn told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that his wife had no enemies and she was a selfless person who served others and was roundly loved.
"That's why this has baffled us as much as anybody. And so we are trusting the investigators," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Davey Blackburn was cleared as a suspect.
Police released several grainy images of a possible suspect that were captured from surveillance videos from nearby houses, including one that was burglarized earlier that morning.
"It was such an obscure photo. It's extremely difficult to say that anybody recognized it," Blackburn said. "Our neighborhood was so close and it was such a seemingly safe neighborhood. And so this has devastated all the neighbors."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The couple moved to Indianapolis from South Carolina to found the independent Resonate Church in 2012. More than 2,000 people attended a memorial service for Amanda Blackburn on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.