Woman charged in 2022 murder; court docs say her toddlers witnessed shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman was arrested in late December for a November 2022 shooting death that happened in sight of her two children, according to court documents.

Linsey Sharae Rose, 23, is facing a charge of murder in the death of 23-year-old Maxine Congress on Nov. 1, 2022.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers found Congress suffering a gunshot wound on Nov. 1, 2022, in the area of East 40th Street and North Emerson Avenue. Congress was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she later died.

During their investigation, detectives learned that the original shooting happened in the 3900 block of Hawthorne Lane, about a three-minute drive east of where she was found.

On Nov. 2, 2022, a SWAT team served a search warrant for Rose and her boyfriend at the apartment she’d been staying at with her friend. When they spoke with detectives, court documents say, Rose said repeatedly that “she was the person (they) were looking for.”

Rose also said “several times that she fired two shots into the white Cruze” that Congress was found in.

Roe explained to detectives that she, a group of people, and her two toddlers went to her boyfriend’s father’s home on the east side for a cookout.

While at the cookout, Rose and a friend that she and her children were living with on the west side left the home. Rose’s boyfriend had left his phone in the car, and Rose answered a call that came in from an ex-girlfriend of his.

During the call, the two women began to argue. After their phone call ended, Rose then called her boyfriend and argued with him.

At some point, court documents say, Rose’s boyfriend left the home to fight his ex’s current boyfriend at a park. After the boyfriend didn’t show up, Rose and a group of others picked him up from the park.

The group planned to return to the west side, but Rose told investigators that her boyfriend received a text message from his ex-girlfriend that included a picture of his father’s house. The text said, “you are leaving your dad all alone at (redacted address).”

The group returned to the father’s house, and found the ex-girlfriend sitting in a white Chevrolet car with Congress. Rose told officers that once they parked in front of the Chevrolet, she and her boyfriend got out of the car and started yelling at the two others.

She then told detectives that while outside the car, she saw “a barrel of a gun being pointed from the rear driver side window.” She then fired once at the car, hitting the driver’s side window. As the car tried to back up, court documents say Rose fired another shot into the rear passenger side door.

Court documents say that Rose’s children were sitting in the back seat at the time of the shooting.

The group left the scene and drove back toward the west side, learning shortly after leaving that Congress had been shot. When the group returned to the west side, they split up.

Shortly after the investigation began, the case was transferred to a different unit. Over several months, new detectives on the case reviewed interviews with Rose and other witnesses, including the ex-girlfriend and Rose’s boyfriend.

Most of the witness statements corroborated Rose’s account. Rose’s boyfriend also said that he thought he saw a gun in the back window of the vehicle, though later told detectives that there was no gun.

Rose was taken into custody by police on Dec. 21. On Wednesday, she was being held at the Marion County jail without bond, online jail records show.

A jury trial was set for March 11, although courts generally do not hold trials on the first date they are scheduled.