COLUMBUS — A 911 call for a welfare check over the weekend in rural Columbus ended with deputies finding a woman dead inside her home and her alleged killer found hiding in the woods nearby.
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called around 5:30 a.m. Sunday to the 500 block of East 650 South to conduct a welfare check on a female resident. Deputies weren’t able to make contact with anyone inside the home.
While investigating, police were told by a property owner there was a suspicious vehicle that had been abandoned in a nearby field along East 800 South That vehicle, authorities said, was found to be connected to the woman whom deputies were sent to check on.
As deputies were looking into the abandoned car, a citizen reported there was a man hiding in the woods near the woman’s home. Officers established a perimeter around the wooded area and police canines were deployed.
Eventually, deputies found 49-year-old Anthony W. Carter, of Indianapolis, in the woods and he was detained without incident.
Deputies continued to investigate the welfare check call and eventually were granted a search warrant for the woman’s home. Deputies found 40-year-old Ashley E. Neville dead inside.
Carter was charged with Neville’s murder as well as an outstanding warrant from another county.
Dana Dougherty, Ashley’s mother said, “Ashley was taken from us by the hands of a vicious cruel murderer. She was a loving, sweet, trusting, unpredictable-spirited soul.”
