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Family of seven slain; killers on run

By From wire reports
Published June 3, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS - Police searched into the night Friday for the killers who barged into a home and shot seven family members to death in the worst mass murder in Indianapolis in at least 25 years.

The bodies of three boys, ages 5 to 11, were found on a bed, and four adult relatives were discovered elsewhere in the house after the Thursday night robbery and massacre that rocked the working-class neighborhood.

Police said the attackers - a witness reported seeing three or four men fleeing from the back of the house - were armed with assault rifles. Police said they could not immediately tell whether anything was taken from the neat, 1½-story home.

Officials did not release names of any suspects, but the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported that Desmond Turner, 28, was considered the primary suspect in Thursday night's slayings. Turner reportedly grew up in the area and had returned last fall after getting out of prison on drug and weapons charges.

"He'd gone there to rob the home and decided while he was there to execute everybody at the same time, unfortunately," Sgt. Matthew Mount said.

Police had at least one other suspect in custody Friday night, according to the Star. And shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, police officers had rushed into a home on the east side of Indianapolis, and witnesses reported hearing gunfire. It was unclear if anyone was taken into custody.

Killed in the Thursday night attack was Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; their sons Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 8 or 9; Valdez's daughter, Flora Albarran, 22; Albarran's 5-year-old son, Luis; and Albarran's brother Magno Albarran, 29.

"You couldn't ask for better neighbors," said Frank Dodson, 49, who lives across the street.

The Covarrubias boys had just celebrated their First Communions.

"Right now we're kind of in shock," said the family's pastor, the Rev. Carlton Beever.

Beever, pastor of the St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, said his congregation is raising money to help pay for burial and other expenses for the victims.

The neighborhood, just east of downtown Indianapolis, is in decline. Some houses have boarded-up windows, and there are vacant lots strewn with litter and overgrown with weeds. Residents have called police to report drug activity, prostitution, thefts and assaults.

"We have been complaining and complaining," said Sandy Washington, 65. "Our voices aren't heard."

In 1981, a laid-off auto worker in Indianapolis killed his estranged wife, mother-in-law and four children. He was sentenced to six consecutive 40-year prison terms.

Information from the Associated Press and Indianapolis Star was used in this report.

[Last modified June 3, 2006, 06:29:52]