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A two-year investigation recently culminated in the arrest of 24-year-old Kenron Laing of Crown Point, Indiana. Laing was arrested on a warrant in connection with the 2022 murder of Gildardo Garcia Salinas, 39, in northern Owen County.
Detectives from the Indiana State Police (ISP) Bloomington Post traveled to Fort Liberty, northwest of Fayetteville, North Carolina on Nov. 14 where they were joined by Army Criminal Investigation Division agents in arresting Laing, who authorities say was taken into custody without incident.
Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg, is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with over 52,000 military personnel.
According to an article published in the Nov. 20, 2024 edition of Stars and Stripes, a daily newspaper reporting on matters concerning members of the United States Armed Forces, Laing enlisted in the Army in August 2023, about 10 months after Salinas was killed.
Private First Class Laing was identified by Stars and Stripes as a petroleum supply specialist assigned to the 82nd Airborne’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
After waiving extradition, Laing was transported from the Cumberland County Jail where he had been awaiting extradition to Owen County to stand trial.
An initial hearing was held on Nov. 21, where Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim said Laing was advised of the charges against him and his constitutional rights as an accused facing criminal charges.
A public defender was appointed by the court to represent Laing, who remains in custody without bond at the Owen County Security Center pending a trial by jury, which is slated to begin on Aug. 11, 2025.
Fatal shooting
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case by ISP Detective Ian Matthews, authorities from the state police were contacted on Nov. 2, 2022 to initiate an investigation following the shooting death of Salinas. The shooting happened at Salinas’ residence in the area of North Cataract Road and U.S. 231.
Authorities with the Owen County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) were first on the scene, having been notified via a 911 phone call received at approximately 8:25 p.m., the probable cause affidavit indicates. The caller reported gunshots had been fired and a male had been shot. Police arrived shortly thereafter to find Salinas deceased outside of his home from apparent gunshot wounds.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Salinas, his wife Brandy Pocasangre, and her 14-year-old daughter were inside the home when they heard noise coming from the kitchen door on the home’s east side.
“She stated that after hearing the noise they realized that a black male was attempting to push his way into the door, prompting (Salinas) to grab his shotgun that was nearby in the kitchen, holding it horizontally across his chest to block the male from coming inside,” the probable cause affidavit notes.
Salinas was reportedly able to “nudge” the intruder outside the door, with the door closing behind them. Once outside, the probable cause affidavit details how Salinas engaged in what his wife later advised sounded like a “struggle or fight
on or near the outside porch.”
Fearful, Pocasangre told authorities how she waited for a short time before she “yelled from inside the home and walked toward the east side door as she heard numerous gunshots,” the probable cause affidavit explains. Now armed with a handgun that had been retrieved from inside the home by her daughter, Pocasangre reportedly opened the door and saw the same black male that her husband had confronted at the door fleeing on foot from the south side steps of the porch to an awaiting vehicle parked to the north of the home.
The victim’s wife later described the shooter to authorities as a “black male wearing black/dark clothing with a hoodie, balaclava-style mask covering his chin area, skinny, dark complexion, wide nose, black hair in front with fuzzy braids or Afro, possible whiskers, ‘peach fuzz’ on face.” He appeared to be in his early to mid-20s, she told police, and stood approximately six feet tall.
Although the suspect had been wearing what appeared to be a balaclava-style mask when he initially confronted her husband at the door, Pocasangre described to authorities how it was “pulled down below his chin, allowing her to see his full face.”
She also recounted to authorities how she attended to her injured husband after the vehicle fled, noticing he had a “gunshot wound to the upper forehead and additional gunshot wounds around his chest and abdomen,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Pocasangre attempted to administer CPR and lifesaving measures until
authorities arrived, the probable cause affidavit reveals, while also checking on the welfare of her daughter and instructing her to call 911 for help.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they encountered Salinas laying in the grass near the east side door of the home. The injured man was still moving, the probable cause affidavit details, which prompted authorities to call for emergency medical technicians (EMT), who upon arrival also attempted lifesaving measures before Salinas succumbed to his injuries. He was later pronounced deceased at the scene.
Phones recovered at scene
During the investigation that followed, detectives learned from Pocasangre how Salinas had discovered an abandoned black bag in the courtyard of an Indianapolis-area motel. Salinas was employed by a landscaping company, authorities would discover, and had been on the hotel grounds that day with a landscaping crew.
Contained inside the bag were drugs and drug paraphernalia, according to the statement given to authorities by Pocasangre, along with an iPhone. She told authorities how her husband had sent her a picture of the motel courtyard and showed her a video of him “stomping out the drugs,” stating to her that the drugs could hurt someone, “especially a child.”
Salinas brought the bag and iPhone home with him after leaving work later that day, according to the probable cause affidavit, showing his wife the iPhone and its case before reportedly telling her he planned to return the phone to his workplace the next day.
Further details provided by Pocasangre would lead authorities to believe the suspect, later identified as Kenron Laing, had attempted to enter the home after tracking the phone to the couple’s northern Owen County residence.
In total, two discarded iPhones would be discovered at the scene. The first was located in a gravel area, the probable cause affidavit indicates, approximately 15 to 20 feet east of the victim’s body. Identified as a black iPhone housed in a clear case, the phone appeared to authorities to have been “wiped” or factory reset. Although the screen read “The iPhone has been locked,” an associated Gmail account would reportedly help police determine the phone belonged to Laing.
According to the probable cause affidavit, authorities with the ISP Cyber Crimes Unit were able to uncover identifying information from the phone which was used to gather subscriber information and records from both Apple and AT&T. The subscriber of the phone and associated service, authorities would discover, was listed as “Mr. Kenron Laing.”
The second phone, described as a dark-colored iPhone housed in an orange, clear case was recovered by authorities after it was spotted by Pocasangre after she had moved Salinas’ truck from where it had been parked in the couple’s driveway. This was the same phone, Pocasangre advised authorities, that Salinas brought home with him that day, along with the bag in which it had been found. Salinas had shown her the phone and its case, the probable cause affidavit recounts, while the two of them had been standing in the driveway.
Following the discovery, the victim’s wife reportedly advised police how she felt the phone had possibly “been tracked” by the individual who ultimately killed her husband.
The culminating investigation led authorities to conclude both phones belonged to Laing, the probable cause affidavit details, with police making the connection through verified phone numbers and email addresses.
Murder weapon
Through a series of interviews and surveillance video, authorities were also able to determine that Laing had been staying at the Indianapolis-area motel with his sister, identified in the probable cause affidavit as Kennisha Laing, then age 20. Police later applied for and were granted a search warrant for the AT&T cell phone records associated with Kennisha’s phone, discovering that it too had traveled a similar path as Kenron Laing’s cell phone from the motel to the area of the crime scene on the date and time of the murder.
The investigation would ultimately take an even deadlier turn when on July 28, 2023, authorities learned Kennisha Laing had been booked into jail in Cook County, Illinois on charges of first-degree murder.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case against her brother, Kenron, Kennisha Laing reportedly shot and killed a 16-year-old juvenile female at a hotel in South Holland, Illinois, before barricading herself in the room and eventually being arrested.
Once in police custody, authorities say she described the revolver handgun she used in the crime, identified as a Taurus model 856 “38 Special +P,” as belonging to her brother, Kenron Laing.
Two fired bullets collected from the many fired by the Illinois State Police Laboratory during their investigation of the firearm were later requested and obtained by local authorities. Those bullets, the probable cause affidavit advises, were tested by the Indiana State Police Evansville Laboratory for comparison against a bullet retrieved from the spine of Salinas during an autopsy conducted on Nov. 4, 2022 at Terre Haute Regional Hospital.
The test, authorities say, identified the two items as having been “fired in the same firearm.”
The case remains under investigation, and Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim has issued a reminder that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Two of the three Owen County Commissioners are new to their positions. Those new commissioners are former sheriff Sam Hobbs and David Risk.
In fact, the only commissioner who isn’t new to the position is Gary Burton, the board's former president.
At the beginning of the commissioners’ first meeting of 2025, held on Jan. 9, Hobbs was unanimously elected president of the board, and Risk was unanimously elected vice president.
Immediately following the reorganization, Hobbs gave a monologue about what can be expected from the board moving forward.
“It’s going to be kind of a lengthy meeting. We got a lot to go through. I’m not here to upset the apple cart with anybody, but I’m going to. It’s just the nature of the beast,” Hobbs began. “I base my faith off of God being in control because He is. We’re just here to do His will and try to make the best of a community that is falling apart.”
After sharing his long-standing attendance at these sorts of public meetings, Hobbs commented on a trend.
“The thing that I’ve seen in the last several years of coming to the meetings and stuff like that is the discord and dislike between the employees, whether you’re elected or appointed or whatever, has turned into a hatred. And it’s going to end. The reason I say that is we’re a team here together,” Hobbs said. “We were elected to serve the people and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The people have a voice. You’re taxpayers. You’ll have a voice in every commissioners’ meeting. That’s only right. I expect your ideas, your vision, your goals and your solutions to some of the problems that we have.”
Hobbs then quoted Proverbs 23:19.
“This county is going to have a vision for everybody, not just for self-centered seeking thumb-sucking selfish people. I won’t tolerate it. I won’t tolerate rude behavior from nobody,” Hobbs said. “I’m in no way here to tell anybody to pack up and get going. If you’re not doing your job that’s required of you, there’s going to be a problem.”
Hobbs then said that employees are the county’s biggest liability and the county’s biggest asset.
“We’re going to work together as a team,” he said.
He then reiterated that the commissioners do not have any authority over other elected officials. He also said that commissioners should allow for autonomy and leadership from the county’s department heads saying they have a business to run.
Hobbs was clear that department heads could and should ask for guidance and help from the commissioners when needed and said the commissioners will not interfere unless asked or unless there is an issue.
“I’m new at this part [being a commissioner], but I’m not new at being around here. I’ve seen how some people have been treated and mistreated, and rest assured of one thing. That’s coming to an end, like real soon,” Hobbs said.
Then, instead of making the usual first meeting of the year liaison appointments, Hobbs announced that those appointments would not be made until February. He cited a “legal problem” but did not go into details.
“There’s some things facing this county that is going to be revealed in the next 30 to 60 days that could change the whole outlook on certain things,” he said.
One and only one liaison appointment was made, and that was for Risk to serve as the liaison for the highway department.
“Gary cannot do that because his wife works there,” Hobbs said.
Until appointments are made in February, Hobbs said that he would serve as the liaison for the auditor’s office and appointed department heads. He noted that elected officials can go to any of the commissioners that they want.
The commissioners then began with the routine business of approving the meeting minutes and claims.
In both this meeting and the Jan. 23 meeting, the commissioners addressed the extensive and inappropriate amount of out-of-cycle claims.
The board then went on to new business.
“This is where the rubber is going to meet the road for some of you,” Hobbs said, adding that it was unfortunate that not everything was going to be good news.
The first matter that was addressed was the contract with Dana Kerr for his services as county attorney.
“We’ve been through this for a couple of months. The current attorney is not here today. He is sick. We wish him the best in his recovery,” Hobbs began. “Dana is not here today, but we have to proceed with business. This has been discussed briefly in a couple commissioners meetings. The contract that the current attorney has is on a week-to-week basis at the moment.”
“Mr. Kerr’s last day will be Jan. 31. I’m not going to sit here and bad mouth him, run him down or anything like that. He did what he did and done what he’s done for what he thought was right. He’s an attorney. I do feel and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mr. Kerr was led down a couple roads that he shouldn’t have had to go down. That’s my two cents worth. I think if Mr. Kerr had things to do over again, they would be done different. Again, this is my opinion.”
With that, Hobbs moved to relieve Kerr of his duties as county attorney as of Jan. 31. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
“This is not the end of this story,” Hobbs said.
After allowing him to introduce himself, the commissioners hired Tony Overholt from Frost Brown Todd Attorneys in Indianapolis. Overholt has served as the attorney for the county council. The commissioners hired Overholt, who has been an attorney for 30 years, for six months. Overholt has experience representing local government.
Overholt will be paid between $350 and $375 per hour.
There is $160,000 budgeted for the county attorney. Under Kerr’s extended 2022 contract that served from week to week until the end of January, approximately $13,000 would have been spent from the $160,000 budgeted for county legal expenses.
The council separately has budgeted approximately $40,000 for their legal expenses, as Kerr did not represent the council.
At the high end of Overholt’s rate, the county commissioners would have a total of 392 hours before exceeding the appropriation. This translates to a weekly average of roughly 7.5 hours per week without going to the county council for an additional appropriation.
During the approximately four-hour first meeting, the commissioners also:
The commissioners also held a joint meeting with the Owen County Council on Jan. 23. A story on that meeting will be made available soon on The Owen News website, theowennews.org. The commissioners met again yesterday, Feb. 6, and they will meet again at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the second-floor Commissioners Room of the Owen County Courthouse, 60 S. Main St., Spencer.
In celebration of its 31st anniversary, the Owen County Community Foundation (OCCF) is thrilled to announce the return of the $1 for $1 Anniversary Match Campaign, building on the incredible success of last year’s 30th anniversary event.
In 2024, nearly $200,000 was raised to support local nonprofits serving Owen County. This year, OCCF invites donors and nonprofits to make an even greater impact.
Running from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28, this match campaign offers a $1 for $1 match for donations made to Agency and Designated funds established at OCCF. These funds specifically support the work of nonprofits serving Owen County, providing them with both immediate resources and long-term sustainability.
“Spencer Main Street, Inc., took a big step forward in 2024 by establishing an agency fund with ‘our’ Owen County Community Foundation,” Julie Coffin, President of Spencer Main Street, Inc. said. “I think we don’t even realize yet how this strengthens our organization in terms of keeping us sustainable and giving us longevity. And those are vital qualities to have because we intend to keep working to make sure that Historic Downtown Spencer continues to be the heart and center of our community for another 205 years. The first word of our mission statement is ‘collaboration,’ and we are so grateful for OCCF’s support and collaboration as we all go forward!”
How the Match Works
For every dollar donated to an eligible fund, OCCF will provide a matching gift, which is designed to strengthen nonprofits in two ways:
This model allows nonprofits to meet immediate needs while building a stable financial foundation for the future.Participating Funds
Only Agency and Designated funds are eligible for the match. These funds support a wide range of causes, including youth development, historic preservation, animal welfare, community health, and more. A full list of participating funds is available on the OCCF website or by contacting the OCCF office directly. As of Feb. 5, the following funds were included in the matching campaign:
How to Donate
Organizations can accept donations in the following ways:
Join Us in Building a Brighter Future“The success of last year’s 30th Anniversary Match Campaign was a testament to the generosity and commitment of our community,” Karah Bobeck, OCCF’s Programs and Communications Director said. “We’re excited to offer this opportunity again and look forward to seeing the incredible impact it will have for Owen County nonprofits.”Nonprofits interested in participating in this campaign and establishing a fund at the OCCF, should contact the OCCF’s office at 812-829-1725.
A Gosport home was destroyed by a fast-moving fire that broke out around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
The first wave of firefighters and emergency personnel arrived on the scene a short time later to find heavy smoke billowing from the roof and flames engulfing the front porch of the home at 246 E. South St.
Homeowner Bryan Rogers was at home when the fire broke out and was reportedly unharmed, declining medical treatment at the scene from the Owen County Emergency Medical Service.
The American Red Cross was later contacted to help meet Rogers’ immediate emergency needs.
According to the Gosport Volunteer Fire Department, a cause for the fire was undetermined.
Firefighters estimated around 30,000 gallons of water was used to battle the morning blaze.
The Gosport VFD received mutual aid from the Owen Valley Fire Territory, Bean Blossom Township-Stinesville VFD, Owen County Sheriff’s Department and the Owen County EMS.
Fire personnel were called back to the scene around 12:30 p.m. where they were able to quickly squelch the rekindled debris at the home, located on the southwest corner of East South and South Second streets.
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