The second defendant in the June homicide of a Hobart man who was found by a Portage Township fishing pond in June is in custody after being transferred from a jail in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Jada Monroe, 29, of Danville, Virginia, was booked into the Porter County Jail around 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to a jail roster, on two felony murder charges and one count of robbery, also a felony.
Charging documents for Monroe are expected to remain sealed until his initial hearing, according to the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office; that had not been scheduled as of Wednesday morning.
Monroe, who also goes by Jawon Martin, and Domonic Brothers, 28, of Gary, who faces the same counts and also goes by Domonic Weaver, allegedly met Derek Hartz, 35, on a gay dating app, according to documents in Brothers’ case.
Brothers has been in custody since July 26 and has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled for a status conference on Feb. 9 before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer.
Hartz’s partially nude body was found on a deflated air mattress in the Chustak Salt Creek Fishing Area at 331 West County Road 600 North by a fisherman around 10:30 a.m. on June 13, according to court documents. He was wearing a blood soaked white T-shirt and had multiple stab and blunt force trauma wounds to his head and chest, with his clothes next to him.
Police in Cincinnati picked up the pair in the hours after Hartz’s death after they were in a police pursuit there and crashed the car Hartz shared with his mother, police have said.
According to charging documents in Brothers’ case, Hartz met up with Brothers and Martin on a gay dating app. Investigators found the app on Martin’s cellphone, as well as messages with Hartz from Brothers and Martin.
The pair arranged for Hartz to pick them up at the residence in Gary’s Aetna neighborhood, where Brothers and Martin lived, for “a consensual sexual encounter,” documents state. Before Hartz arrived, the two gathered a butcher knife and a landscaping brick from the residence and concealed them in a rose colored purse.
In police interviews, Brothers and Martin said they “had been planning on leaving the state, but prior to this date did not have transportation or finances to travel. It was indicated that prior to Derek’s arrival a ‘plan’ was developed,” according to court records.
Hartz began communicating with an account named “It’s two of us” the afternoon of June 12 according to data downloaded from the dating app on Martin’s phone, documents state. The thread includes a message to Hartz that said, “U wanna have some fun with us.”
Hartz replied he was busy but restarted the conversation at 4:03 a.m. June 13 and the duo replied at 6:25 a.m., when Hartz arranged to pick them up at the residence in Gary.
Hartz arrived to pick the two up in a white Volkswagen he shared with his mother and they drove to the fishing pond in Portage Township.
“Sexual activity was engaged in and during the course of the contact Derek was struck with the brick and stabbed multiple times with the knife,” documents state. Brothers and Martin “then left the body of Derek on the path in the wooded area and drove away in his vehicle. It was indicated that Derek was obviously deceased following the attack.”
Police used pings from Hartz’s cellphone and later Martin’s and license plate readers in Lake and Porter counties to track their travels through the region before they headed east, when investigators tracked them on eastbound Interstate 94 near Hartford, Michigan, and later on southbound Interstate 75 between Dayton and Cincinnati in Ohio.
In one picture from a license plate reader at 9:41 a.m. on June 13 at Indiana 130 and Lake County Line Road as the Volkswagen traveled westbound, it’s clear “there are two subjects in the vehicle,” documents state.
Police talked to roommates of Martin and Brothers who verified that the two were in possession of a white passenger car they had never seen before. The two lived together in one bedroom “and were heard packing frantically around 10 a.m. Both Domonic and Jada packed all of their belongings and informed their roommates they were moving out,” documents state.
The pair “made multiple stops prior to leaving the state,” documents state. Martin owned a gold fanny pack which they realized they left by the fishing pond. “They drove back to the scene and observed law enforcement vehicles and immediately left the area.”
The murder weapons also were taken from the scene in the same rose colored purse.
Hartz’s mother told police she went to bed around 4:30 a.m. on June 13 and Hartz was in his room playing video games. When she woke up, he had left a note that he was going to a friend’s house and took the Volkswagen they shared.
She texted him three times between 9:45 a.m. and 10:59 a.m. with no response, documents state. At 11:23 a.m., she got a response that said “I’ll be there soon,” after the time his body was discovered, according to the charges.
“The phone responded with the same message four more times” before she threatened to contact police and at 12:01 p.m., she registered her vehicle as stolen.
Police later recovered Hartz’s phone in the area of 61st Avenue and Interstate 65.
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
