Witnesses led police to dead body, suspect in Bloomington shooting
When police with a search warrant went to a Bloomington apartment late the morning of Feb. 8 to investigate a possible murder, they broke down a locked bedroom door and discovered the body of a 29-year-old man wrapped up in blankets tied with rope.
Caleb James Cowden, of Bloomington, had been shot once in the forehead the previous evening, according to three people who were there.
Initial story: Bloomington man faces murder charge after body found wrapped in blankets tied up with rope
They contacted Bloomington police and told them what they knew, asking to remain anonymous, according to an affidavit filed in the case that provides more details about the shooting and how an arrest was made.
Witnesses say Caleb Cowden killed during drug sale
The three witnesses told a detective they were in a bedroom at an apartment in the 900 block of Graham Place conducting a methamphetamine sale when a gunshot rang out. They said they heard the man accused of the crime, 56-year-old Gary William O'Bryant, shout, "I told you I was going to kill that (expletive)."
They exited the room to find Cowden dead on the floor in a pool of blood.
When police arrived the next day to search the apartment, police said they found O'Bryant asleep on a living room couch.
"When I questioned Gary about the dead body found wrapped and tied in bed comforters in the bedroom, he claimed to have no knowledge about it," Detective Joshua Burnworth wrote in his account of what police believe happened.
He said O'Bryant admitted selling drugs from the apartment where he had been staying; police said O'Bryant had meth and drug paraphernalia on him when he was arrested.
Police find evidence in apartment, at bus stop
Burnworth's report said "It was abundantly obvious and clear that someone attempted to clean up the crime scene, because not only had the dead body been moved from where the witnesses had originally seen it within the apartment the previous night, the majority of the blood that was observed pooling beneath the body had also been cleaned up."
Traces of blood remained on the floor, and police also reported finding blood-saturated clothing inside two white trash bags near the apartment door. Police said the search turned up a Glock 9mm magazine loaded with several bullets.
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The witnesses told police they had last seen O'Bryant walking west toward Rockport Road that night. During a search the following day, police found a 9mm gun magazine, like the one at the apartment, at the bus stop at Graham Drive and Rockport Road.
There was a cellphone at the bus stop, too; when it rang, an officer answered and a woman asked for "Gary O," the affidavit said.
As the search continued police found two handguns in the line of woods behind the bus stop; one was a loaded 9mm Glock with three bullets in a magazine and one loaded in the chamber.
O'Bryant had an initial court hearing scheduled Feb. 16 on charges of murder, failure to notify authorities of the discovery of a dead body, dealing in methamphetamine and obstruction of justice.
The prosecutor's office has filed a notice intending to seek a habitual criminal status because of O'Bryant's prior felony convictions: a 2009 burglary conviction in Marshall County, a 2014 intimidation conviction in St. Joseph County and a 2019 theft conviction in Elkhart County.
If he is determined to be a habitual criminal, the status would increase his prison sentence if he were to be found guilty of murder and the related charges.
Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington murder victim found after police speak to 3 witnesses
