Inset: Antres Holliness-Ransom (Allen County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The 2900 block of Schele Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana (Google Maps).Â
An Indiana man is accused of killing a woman by shooting her in the forehead — with a startling text from a witness providing a breakthrough in the case, authorities say.
Antres Holliness-Ransom, 28, has been charged with murder, Allen County Sheriff’s Office jail records show. He is believed to have killed 28-year-old Jasmine Haywood last week.
Haywood’s body was found just before midnight on Oct. 17, inside an apartment in the 2900 block of Schele Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The victim was on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to her forehead and “significant damage” to her face, according to court records obtained by WPTA, the region’s ABC and NBC affiliate.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
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The person renting the apartment gave investigators permission to search inside — a search that resulted in the discovery of a blood-covered Glock located between the victim’s feet, a shell casing in a dresser drawer, and a semi-automatic rifle under the bed with a destroyed serial number, according to law enforcement.
That search was reportedly only the beginning. Inside of one dresser drawer, investigators discovered blood and tissue that appeared to be from Haywood’s face, according to the court records reviewed by the TV station.
Also curious was what was not present, authorities said.
Surveillance footage allegedly captured Haywood carrying a phone the day she died, but no phone was found at the scene. Then came a text from someone who claimed to know more about the crime.
“You can’t open a door if someone is holding a gun to your head telling you to get rid of them or he gonna shoot me then after he held us in there his girl is found dead ‘suicide,'” read the text to a detective working on the case, WPTA reported. “I’m leaving town I’m not coming back they have me scared and if I talk this time I will die for sure.”
This witness reportedly said they were also held inside an apartment by two men who would not let them out — and that one of the men pistol-whipped Haywood because she owed him money. An autopsy was conducted on Haywood, finding that she died from a gunshot wound to the forehead.
Surveillance video also showed that a car driven by Holliness-Ransom was at the apartment building around the time Haywood was believed to have been killed, according to local CBS affiliate WANE. Police also allegedly tracked the victim’s phone and tied it to Holliness-Ransom.
Furthermore, when the witness was asked if the shooter’s name was Antres, they replied, “uh-huh,” the court documents said.
Holliness-Ransom was charged with the murder on Thursday and booked into the Allen County Confinement Facility on no bond.
He has a first court appearance scheduled for Monday, court records show.
