Four charged in Rethlake homicide

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November 6, 2009

Prosecutor says the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time

By Mike Fletcher The Kokomo Tribune Fri Nov 06, 2009, 12:14 AM EST

With the family of Abby Rethlake standing by, Howard County Prosecutor James Fleming announced Thursday the arrests of four people allegedly involved in the April 5, 2008, shooting death of Rethlake and the serious injury of her friend, Morgan Vetter.

Rethlake, 18, was killed while she and Vetter were in Rethlake’s car at Meadowlawn Apartments, 1930 S. Goyer Road. Vetter, who was 19 at the time, also was shot, but survived.

The women were shot multiple times about 3:25 a.m. in the parking lot by a man whom witnesses said fled in an older-model, black, two-door car.

“I really appreciate the Kokomo police and Jim Fleming and the community for being behind this,” Tom Rethlake, Abby Rethlake’s father, said during a brief press conference at the Howard County Courthouse.

“I believe in my faith, I believe in my friends, I believe in my family, and I believe in the American judicial system,” he said.

Charged in the shootings were Michael Yates, 26, and Reggie Balentine, 32, both of Kokomo; and Launden Luckett, 21, and Jesse L. Harris Jr., 26, both of Chicago.

Fleming said Rethlake and Vetter were not the targets of the shooting. Rather, he said, they were with the target, Mark Matthews, who was sitting in the back seat of Rethlake’s car when shots were fired.

“They were completely innocent of any involvement with these individuals who have been indicted,” Fleming said. “They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Harris faces charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery. According to the charging information, Harris allegedly killed Rethlake, and conspired and attempted to kill Matthews and Vetter.

The others, Fleming claims, aided in Rethlake’s slaying and attempted to kill Matthews and Vetter.

Yates faces three counts of aiding, inducing or causing murder, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated battery. Balentine faces three counts of aiding, inducing or causing murder; assisting a criminal; conspiracy to commit murder; and aiding, inducing or causing aggravated battery. Luckett faces a lone charge of aggravated battery in the injury of Vetter.

The assisting-a-criminal charge against Balentine alleges he repaired damages to the get-a-way vehicle and took suspects out of state to avoid prosecution.

Fleming did not disclose a motive for the shootings.

Balentine and Yates are being held at the Howard County jail. Harris and Luckett are incarcerated in Illinois. All four are held without bail.

A grand jury, which convened over the summer in Howard Circuit Court before Judge Lynn Murray, preceded the charges.

Initial hearings for the four are 1 p.m. Nov. 20 in Howard Superior Court 1.

Fleming credited KPD detectives for solving this case. They spent hundreds of hours working on the case, as well as traveled to Illinois and throughout Indiana to gather evidence and conduct interviews.

“We would have never solved this case and accomplished these indictments without the relentless work of the Kokomo Police Department, in particular Detective Mike Banush, Detective Tonda Cockrell, Detective Scott Purtee and the Howard County Drug Task Force,” Fleming said.

• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at 765-454-8565 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.

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