|
Careful and persistent work on the part of officers with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department led to the charging of two North Vernon brothers and their cousin from Crothersville in the March, 2016, shooting deaths of Michele Brewer, 45, and Jesse Willard “Willie” Bowling, 51.
Brewer and her friend were killed by multiple gunshots at the mobile home they shared on State Road 356 east of Lexington late on March 28, 2016. When family members had not heard from Brewer, they went to the residence, finding Brewer and Bowling. Detective Jeremy Arnold was one of the first officers on the scene, following Deputy Rex Herald.
When autopsies were performed the following day, several small caliber slugs were recovered.
Also on March 29, David T. McIntosh, then 49, was arrested by then Austin patrolman Greg Green. Recovered were drugs, $1,200 in cash and a 9mm handgun. McIntosh, now 50, was charged with four Level 6 felonies, two counts of possession of a Schedule 1-4 controlled substance, one count of maintaining a common nuisance and a count of resisting law enforcement. An original charge of carrying a handgun without a license was dismissed in February of this year. His jury trial in the matter is scheduled June 1 in Scott Circuit Court.
When David McIntosh was processed at the Scott County Security Center for incarceration, officers said they found a spent .22 cal. shell casing in his clothing. They said they also located a handwritten note in the prisoner’s wallet, apparently giving directions to Brewer’s mobile home and directions to locate a small driveway. The drive leads to an area behind her home, and a path gives access to the woman’s backyard, according to the probable cause affidavits filed in the cases against the three McIntoshes.
Reportedly, both Brewer and Bowling were killed from someone shooting from outside the home.
Det. Arnold said he also learned through his investigations that Roger McIntosh, 57, Crothersville, was a cousin to David and Phillip McIntosh, who are brothers. Roger allegedly gave Phillip at least $700 to buy a car. Phillip was seen driving the car the day before the murders. The next day, March 28, he sold it to another man for $200.
Phillip McIntosh, then 53, surrendered to the local Sheriff’s Department on March 31 after learning of a warrant issued for his arrest in a Jennings County case. In the case’s affidavit, Det. Arnold said calls made by Phillip to a friend related that Phillip expected “…to be coming into some money…” after he was released. He also allegedly told his friend to tell Roger McIntosh “…it would be in Roger’s best interest to either bond (Phillip) out or put money on his (jail commissary account)…”
Det. Arnold also noted that his investigation turned up a recording allegedly of Roger McIntosh talking about wanting to kill Brewer and Bowling. Apparently, Roger McIntosh wanted to silence the pair because each had been recorded buying drugs from him.
Late last November, a property owner off Getty Road in the Lexington area discovered a wrapped .22 cal. rifle hidden on his property. The rifle had a contraption that captured spent casings, and several were in it. A mark on the casings was “…very similar…” to a mark on the spent casing found in David McIntosh’s clothing, the detective related.
A talk with Roger McIntosh’s nephew purportedly revealed that Roger used the nephew’s computer to view some CDs that contained audio and visual recordings of Brewer buying narcotics from him as a confidential informant (CI). At the end of that February or early in that March, the nephew said Roger came back to his home and got two of his guns the nephew had been keeping for him. One was a Ruger 9mm handgun, apparently the same one David McIntosh had when he was arrested in Austin. Roger also apparently took a .22 cal. Excam handgun with wooden grips, purportedly the same gun that was recovered from the Getty Road woods.
An interview with Roger McIntosh on January 31 of this year was revealing. As he talked with Det. Arnold and Det. Dave Mitchell of the Indiana State Police, Roger apparently told them about the money he had given Phillip to buy a car and how he got the guns from his nephew. He said he practiced shooting the guns with David and Phillip McIntosh and that he gave David McIntosh the 9mm handgun and Phillip a .22 cal. rifle.
He also allegedly told the officers that Phillip had wrapped the barrel of the rifle in an attempt to silence it when fired.
Roger McIntosh supposedly told the officers that David McIntosh came to his home and told him Phillip had killed the couple. He said he gave David over $1,000 during this visit, but Roger McIntosh said he did not hire either David or Phillip to do the killings.
Phillip McIntosh talked to Det. Arnold several times, allegedly telling him that he shot Brewer because he was hired by Roger McIntosh to do so. He said Bowling was killed because he was at the mobile home when Phillip arrived.
Phillip said that he had discussed killing Brewer with his brother and cousin several times in the months leading up to the shootings, simply to eliminate the woman as a witness in Roger McIntosh’s Jackson County criminal case. In return, Roger McIntosh supposedly promised “…that they’d be taken care of, their mother would be taken care of…” and that he would deed over to them a lot and residence in Blocher.
Phillip said he “…had some hesitation…” about shooting the woman, but Roger McIntosh allegedly pressed him to kill Brewer “…(or) that he needed to bring back the car and tools (guns)…” He went to the mobile home late on Easter Sunday, 2016, and shot the couple.
Phillip McIntosh took Det. Arnold and Det. Paul Clute on his alleged path from the murder scene to where he said the guns were tossed. He also supposedly told them he went to his residence in North Vernon and burned the clothes he wore. When he called his cousin to report the shooting, he said Roger McIntosh told him he’d get him some money.
David McIntosh and Phillip McIntosh had their initial court hearings on Thursday afternoon, April 27, before Senior Judge Alison Frazier. A preliminary plea of not guilty to murder and conspiracy to murder was entered for David McIntosh. Phillip McIntosh’s preliminary not guilty plea is to two counts of murder and one count each of conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice. Each of the brothers were assigned an initial jury trial date of July 31, and their cases were forwarded to the public defenders’ board for assignment.
No bail was set for either brother. Scott Circuit Court Judge Jason Mount recused himself from the cases, with Judge John Terrence Cody assigned to the David McIntosh case and Andrew Adams to the Phillip McIntosh case. Judge Mount filed a recusal in Roger McIntosh’s case as well.
Roger McIntosh is serving a 13-year sentence in Jackson County for dealing drugs. It is not known when he will be transported from the Brownstown facility for an initial hearing here. His charges are two counts of murder, one of conspiracy to commit murder and one of obstruction of justice.
An additional penalty notice was filed by Prosecutor Chris Owens in the cases of both Roger McIntosh and Phillip McIntosh because of the use of a firearm to commit the crimes.
-30- |
