On Wednesday, October 3, at approximately 5:42 a.m., dispatch at the Linton Police Department received a call from someone who said Todd Bennett had been shot and needed medical attention. At approximately the same time, dispatch at the Greene County Sheriff’s Department received a call from a different person who said Jared Turner had just shot someone.

Officers from both departments responded, to two different locations.

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The 911 call to the sheriff’s department came from a residence at 14025 West County Road 50 North in the Linton area. The caller said a person in his house was claiming that someone had been killed and there was a disassembled gun at his house that was involved.

When GCSD Deputy Alan Jackson spoke to the caller on the phone for more information, the man told him Jared Turner had shot Todd Bennett because Bennett was holding a knife to Heather Minks. Much later in the day, investigators determined Bennett was not holding a knife on her and he was unarmed when he was shot.

GCSD Detective James O’Malley was called in and dispatched to the home, along with other deputies.

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At the Linton Police Department, LPD Officer Orry Phipps and other officers were dispatched to 1018 A Street SW in Linton where the shooting victim was found. Officer Andrew Duguay of the Jasonville Police Department also responded to assist.

Minutes later, around 5:45 a.m., LPD Detective Paul Clark, who became the lead investigator in this case, was called in to assist Officer Phipps on the A Street SW scene.

Later writing a narrative about these investigations for reports and a probable cause affidavit, Det. Clark said Phipps advised him there was a man lying near the residence on A Street with a gunshot wound to the neck or face and that the victim was Todd W. Bennett.

When Det. Clark arrived on the scene, the victim was gone. Bennett had been transported to the Emergency Room at Greene County General Hospital by the EMS Ambulance Rescue Unit from Linton. From there, Bennett was transferred to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Officers Phipps and Duguay had secured the scene and Phipps said the sheriff’s department was also out on a call nearby that Phipps believed was related to the shooting incident. Jared Turner was the suspect.

Officer Phipps reported Bennett had what appeared to be a gunshot wound, an entrance wound, near his right temple. He did not see an exit wound, but he saw a large bulge on the back of Bennett’s neck that could be where the bullet was lodged and the reason there was no exit wound.

Clark said he talked to a neighbor on the scene who told him he had been sitting outside his own house and had heard someone coughing for 30-45 minutes but he was unaware that Bennett had been shot until someone else found Bennett lying near the street.

Clark said he saw numerous puddles of what looked like blood on the ground in several places, plus there was some clothing and other items scattered about.

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LPD Sgt. Logan Hobbs was also called in and had arrived on the scene.

They then checked and confirmed that the investigation the sheriff’s department was working was directly related to the shooting so Clark and Hobbs traveled to the location on West CR 50 North near Linton and the two investigations were merged into one.

When the two LPD officers arrived at this house, Det. O’Malley was talking to Turner. Other deputies were taking to Minks who was very upset and crying. Clark said he learned Minks and Turner are related and this location was the home of family members of Minks.

Det. Clark listened in as Turner talked to Det. O’Malley. Turner allegedly said that he, Minks and Bennett had been ‘hanging out’ during the night then Turner drove Bennett to Bennett’s house to drop Bennett off.

When Clark talked to Minks, after she calmed down, she also said she was with Bennett and Turner during the hours before the shooting and that she and Turner had taken Bennett to Bennett’s house to drop him off.

That’s how both of their stories started out, but from that point on in their stories, when they recounted what had happened, they told very different stories.