A trial opened Monday for a Merrillville man accused of killing his estranged girlfriend.
Dennis Jelks, 60, is charged with murder in the January 2021 death of Angela Carrier, 37, of Crown Point. He has pleaded not guilty.
Carrier went with relatives on Jan. 26, 2021 to the Merrillville Menards to swap stuff with Jelks after a breakup. Jelks claimed he didn’t have the mail. He convinced Carrier to leave with him just around 1:30 p.m., and she was never seen alive again.
Carrier died sometime between Jan. 26-30, 2021, the affidavit states.
She was found shot twice in the back of the head on Jan. 30 near 30th Avenue and Jackson Street, documents state. A firearms expert estimated the bullet casings came from a .38-caliber or .357-caliber gun.
Carrier’s family told police he was abusive and kept a gun in his trunk.
Jelks told investigators after leaving Menards, he went with her to buy marijuana from “Tone” near 42nd Avenue and Jackson Street. Two car doors opened, Carrier got into a black car that took off.
He fell, dropped his keys and lost track of the other car, he said. He called 911, records show. Det. Nick Wardrip discounted his story, writing that it wasn’t backed up by evidence.
Cell phone data showed Jelks’s device pinged at Menards, then near 30th and Jackson around 2 p.m. — where Carrier’s body was later found. Afterward, the cell phone went to Jelks’ brother’s house, according to the affidavit.
Deputy Prosecutors Infinity Westberg and Chris Bruno argued in court documents that the couple had a “long and tumultuous” relationship and Jelks was the last person seen with her while she was alive. His cell phone pinged near where her body was found, and he “repeatedly lied” to police, his friends and family.
Defense lawyer Michael Lambert wrote in court filings that prosecutors had “no direct evidence” or “physical evidence” tying Jelks to her death. They “created a tale” to fit “their narrative,” he wrote.
He argued the case was based on testimony from Carrier’s relatives and “tidbits” of cell phone data, with police “opinions” of his credibility. Jelks’ DNA wasn’t found at the crime scene, he wrote. Prosecutors couldn’t definitely prove when she died.
Carrier struggled with drugs, Lambert wrote, citing her mother’s testimony, and would “go away for extended periods of time.”
Jelks petitioned for a speedy trial.
On Monday, prosecutors played a phone call that Carrier’s stepfather Shannon Smith recorded when he called Jelks shortly after her disappearance. He testified he never saw Carrier again after she left with Jelks. Her dogs were left alone, alarming her family.
“Dude, you got something to do with it,” Smith said on the call.
“This ain’t Ang,” he said at one point, to leave the pets alone.
Jelks denied any involvement.
Carrier’s son Caleb said the couple’s relationship was “toxic” and they were in the process of breaking up. He and Smith went with her to a Menards parking lot so Jelks would give her mail from the Social Security Administration back so she could still get her benefits.
How long have you known Jelks, a deputy prosecutor asked.
“Too long,” he replied.
Shianne Carrier, her daughter, said she wasn’t at the Menards. Her grandmother called her to see if she’d heard from her mother.
Jelks’ story had inconsistent details, namely the color of the car he said she left in. Shianne called Angela “over a thousand times.” Jelks would often call her after she did from his own phone, raising her suspicions. She recalled a conversation around the time of the couple’s split.
“If I can’t have her, nobody can,” she recalled Jelks saying.
Joshua Harper, who had been dating Carrier on-and-off since 2018, said he knew she was in the process of splitting from Jelks. At the time, Harper was in a “wheelchair” after falling off a roof at a job site.
He messaged her he was headed to physical therapy and were supposed to meet up later. At some point, she stopped responding.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
