MUNCIE, IN — A Shelbyville man has been identified as the homicide victim whose body was found in a burning car in Delaware County.
Jeff Stanley, chief deputy for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, announced on Wednesday, Jan. 21, that DNA tests had confirmed the body was that of 58-year-old Michael D. Greer.
Greer’s body was found on the early morning of Dec. 14 in a burning car found along Delaware County Road 500 South west of Indiana 3.
On Jan. 6, an 85-year-old Shelbyville man, Sylvester Bobby Euell, told The Star Press the victim was Greer. Euell also said that Greer was his son.
Five Indianapolis residents — Ameraiss Aponte, 23; Tallis Varantonio McCoy, 43; Randal Bruce Moon Jr., 40; Amy L. Singhas, 43; and Megan Nicole Sloan, 31 — have already been arrested and charged in the homicide.
The most recent arrest came on Jan. 15, when McCoy was taken into custody “with the assistance of the Indianapolis Metro Police SWAT and Violent Crimes Unit,” Stanley said.
A probable cause affidavit released after McCoy’s arrest indicated Greer had been both shot and beaten.
However, court documents have indicated the victim was still alive when the car was set on fire.
Two of the charges filed Jan. 2 against Aponte were murder and arson. According to court documents, an autopsy revealed the victim was alive when the fire began.
In an affidavit, an investigator with the sheriff’s department wrote that Aponte drove the car to the location where it was found on fire.
The 23-year-old Indianapolis man is also charged with aiding, inducing or causing four crimes: murder, kidnapping, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
His co-defendants face charges including aiding, inducing and causing murder, arson, kidnapping, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
The five Indianapolis residents are being held without bond in the Delaware County Jail.
Aponte, Moon, Singhas and Sloan have received trial dates — scheduled between May 12 and July 17 — in Delaware Circuit Court 1.
Stanley said on Wednesday that investigators had spent “countless hours conducting interviews, reviewing evidence, and working alongside our state and local partners to bring clarity to this case and answers to the family.”
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Shelbyville man identified as homicide victim found in burning car
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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