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Last updated on Wednesday, July 23, 2014
(BLOOMFIELD) - About the time Jason Caldwell was being booked into the Greene County Jail on Monday morning, Michelle Caldwell was in the process of bonding out.
Kevin Caldwell was booked in late Sunday.
Both Jason and Kevin Caldwell were named as "persons of interest" into a murder and rape in the Newark area on Saturday. Both were picked up on outstanding warrants issued in unrelated cases.
According to court records and jail logs, the two Caldwell men and Michelle Caldwell reside on the same property located on North Pate Lane in Solsberry.
According to the Greene County Daily World, Michelle Caldwell was arrested on an outstanding warrant in Morgan County Thursday, issued in a case unrelated to the homicide investigation. She was booked into the Greene County Jail around 2 p.m.
According to Indiana State Police, Michelle Caldwell is accused of stealing a van from the Solsberry area in June 2013. A warrant was issued charging her with felony auto theft in November 2013, but police were unable to locate her.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Caldwell walked to the home of Christopher Britton and asked if she could use his washing machine to wash her clothes. He agreed but then she asked if she could use the resident's 2006 Buick Terraza van to go pick up her clothes and bring them back. He agreed and she returned a short time later with her laundry which she put into the wash. But then she said she forgot her purse and asked if she could use the van to go get it and would be right back. He agreed but Michelle Caldwell never returned.
At one point during the investigation, the officer was able to reach Michelle Caldwell by phone and she told police the owner of the van had given her permission to use it with the understanding that she would take over the monthly payments. However the van ran out of gas and she left it at a home in Martinsville, went to get gas and when she returned the van was missing.
When she asked why she did not report the vehicle stolen, she allegedly told police she wasn't the registered owner and didn't feel it was her responsibility. She also told police she knew another female, who lived in Brooklyn, was driving the vehicle.
In August of 2013, an officer with the Morgantown Police Department found the stolen van being driven by a person who lived in a Martinsville motel. The van was impounded.
The van was processed by ISP troopers who reported finding several receipts dated after the vehicle had been reported stolen. They followed the paper trail which included a trip to Walmart in Camby where there was a video that showed a woman exiting the store and getting into the van in July. Another receipt led them to a Martinsville auto parts where the same woman, not Caldwell, had purchased brake pads for the van.
In late September of 2013, that woman turned up in the Morgan County Jail on several drug-related charges. The officers attempted to interview her but she declined to speak and requested a lawyer.
Tummers wrote that he had attempted to make contact with Michelle Caldwell on several different dates but he was unsuccessful. He said he had spoken to several of her friends and family members who all said they didn't know where she was. Some also said that she often disappears for months at a time.
A criminal case was filed against Michelle Caldwell on November 13, 2013 and a bench warrant for her arrest was issued out of Greene Superior Court the same day on the preliminary charge of auto theft, a class D felony.
That warrant remained outstanding until Michelle Caldwell was arrested in Morgan County.
Once returned to Greene County and booked in last Thursday, her bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent allowed. She remained in jail but officials reported she was in the process of bonding out early Monday. However, she is facing another criminal case filed against her in Monroe County and following her release in Greene County, she was expected to be transferred to the Monroe County Jail.
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