Goshen man accused of woman’s murder in court

Nov. 21—GOSHEN — A man accused of murdering a woman in Goshen on Oct. 13 was in court on Thursday for a pretrial conference where the judge learned that discovery is expected early next week.

Hector Duran Gomez, 45, is accused of using a zip tie to asphyxiate Alma Bermeo, 45, at their 810 S. Indiana Ave. home.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Duran Gomez, despite having a no-contact order connected to a current domestic battery charge against Bermeo was at their home the night prior.

Police said in the probable cause affidavit that Bermeo left her home after a dinner with Duran Gomez and other family members the night prior but texted her daughter that he was following her and later followed her back to the house.

Having not heard from her for much of Oct. 13, Bermeo’s friend contacted the police for a welfare check on her as she wasn’t answering her phone.

Police, along with Bermeo’s father, found Bermeo’s body in an oversized garage on the property. The garage was used by the father and Duran Gomez to work on cars together and the father noted the lock had been changed sometime overnight and he and the police forced entry into it.

Surveillance cameras on the outside of the home also were “moved and broken from the area in which they were supposed to be pointing,” the affidavit reads.

They found Bermeo in the corner deceased with a zip tie around her neck, according to the affidavit. Police located Duran Gomez in a parking lot in the 500 block of Lincolnway East and he agreed to drive to the police station to provide a statement. Duran Gomez was taken into custody by the Goshen Police Department and charged with violating the no-contact order between himself and Bermeo. While under arrest, police officers said they noticed scratch marks on Duran Gomez’s left forearm, the affidavit reads. An autopsy on Oct. 15 showed that Bermeo’s manner of death was preliminarily determined to be homicide by asphyxiation.

Duran Gomez’s pretrial conference is scheduled for Nov. 21, a trial status conference for March 6, and a jury trial scheduled for March 31.

RONALD E. WAGONER

A man accused of dealing meth was sentenced in Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Police stopped Wagoner near Nappanee Street and Lusher Avenue after they noted that one of his headlights was not working.

Police also noted that the plates were expired. Because of that, the vehicle would need to be impounded. When police informed Wagoner that the vehicle would be impounded, he began manipulating items in the vehicle and opened the dashboard storage compartment, where the officer noticed a small glass pipe with burnt residue.

When asked, Wagoner told the officer it was just a piece of glass and the officer ordered him to hand it over. Wagoner complied and was removed from his vehicle and handcuffed.

While searching the vehicle, police found a total of 38.5 grams of meth, a large amount of baggies and half a dozen unused glass pipes and a bong.

During sentencing, Wagoner said he wants to get into programs to help for substance abuse. Wagoner was sentenced to Count 2, possession of meth, a Level 3 felony, to 12 years at the Indiana Department of Corrections with four years suspended on reporting probation.

KALEB D. GOODWIN

One of the five people accused of an armed robbery on Middlebury Street in Elkhart in September had a pretrial status conference in Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Kaleb Goodwin is currently at the Logansport Juvenile Facility and his attorney Michael Banik told Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Michael Christofeno that they’ve waived the bond hearing until Goodwin was released from the facility.

According to a probable cause affidavit, two victims arrived at the Elkhart Police Department at 11:34 p.m. Sept. 13, 2024, to report an armed robbery at the apartments at 304 Middlebury St. Alora L.S. Layton, Carrie A. Layton, Emarri K. Redmond, Kaleb D. Goodwin and Issac R. Duckworth were accused.

The victims, one man and one woman, told police that they were sitting in their car messaging a friend of the man’s, Carrie A. Layton, about helping her move furniture. Two men approached the vehicle on the driver’s side, where the woman was, wearing masks and dark clothes and displaying guns, a probable cause affidavit reads. The female driver told police one of the men opened the sliding door of their van and took a knife from her car and threatened her with it. He also reportedly hit her with the magazine end of the pistol he had. The woman said the knife and something from the center console had been taken before returning from the same apartment door they’d come from.

The male passenger told police that at the same time, another man approached his passenger side door and took his wallet and a vape and returned to the same apartment as the others. A woman who was nearby did not approach the vehicle.

Police executed a search warrant on the apartment and reportedly found a 17-year-old boy hiding inside with multiple firearms on him. They arrested both 17-year-olds, Issac Duckworth and Kaleb Goodwin, as well as E’Marri Redmond, 19; Carrie Layton, 20; and Alora Layton, 18, all of Elkhart, on charges of armed robbery.

Goodwin’s jury trial remains set for March 3, with a trial status conference Feb. 6.

EDUARDO A. RUEDA JR.

One of two teens associated with a Twin Pines armed robbery last winter in Goshen saw his trial continued from Dec. 16 to April 7 during Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Eduardo Rueda and Johnathan Martinez are accused of an armed robbery in Twin Pines Mobile Home Park in Goshen on Feb. 2, 2023.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim, 16, had made an Instagram post selling a PlayStation 5, which Rueda responded to with interest in the purchase.

Rueda allegedly went to the teen’s home and the two of them were outside discussing the transaction when a white Chevrolet Silverado with no license plate pulled up and a man in a ski mask exited the vehicle and pointed a gun at him and took the PlayStation. The white truck was later linked by police to Martinez.

Investigators found surveillance footage that led them to believe that Rueda and Martinez had met earlier in the afternoon at Martin’s Supermarket, 3800 Mishawaka Road, and found evidence of communications between the two via SnapChat as they drove in their separate vehicles from Martin’s to Twin Pines, and a SnapChat image to a group chat including Rueda of a PlayStation and gun in the Martinez’ passengers’ seat and announcing to the chat the successful robbery, the probable cause affidavit reads. It also, by video, led investigators to believe the two met up and transferred the gun and game system to Rueda’s vehicle at Hobby Lobby parking lot, and Rueda reportedly set the robbery up.

Martinez was sentenced to 12 years at the Indiana Department of Corrections with five years suspended on reporting probation for Armed Robbery, a Level 3 Felony.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 18.

TIMOTHY S. WARREN, TIMOTHY A. GIBSON, SAMUEL L. LAFOLLETTE

Three men accused of burglarizing an abandoned building in Elkhart had an initial hearing in court on Thursday.

Police were called to 2503 W. Mishawaka Road, Elkhart, on Nov. 14, after an AEP worker reported she heard banging coming from inside the building and the door was open but the building was supposed to be vacant.

The officer who arrived on scene went to the open door and waiting for back up, but noticed the door opened a little more and then began to close so he pulled it open and man who claimed to be Timothy Gibson standing in the doorway.

Warren told the officer that he worked there, and was cleaning up the building for Amit Shah, as an employee of his with Green Stream, and that the building was about to be condemned. The man also claimed he was with another man, Timothy Shay, and said he said they had a key.

The officer called for others inside the building to exit and the other man, later identified as Timothy Warren, 43, of Michigan, fled out the southern door and west toward Best Avenue where he was apprehended, court documents read.

A vehicle registered to Samuel L. Lafollette was found in the building. Lafollette claimed he wasn’t even in the building or involved in any way, but that someone used his vehicle.

The property manager said no one had been granted permission inside the building, but confirmed that Shah owned the building, and Shah confirmed that Gibson worked for him but was fired and never had permission to be on the property.

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