Formal charges filed in Tippecanoe Co. art teacher’s murder

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – Witnesses said the shooter was looking for stolen drugs.

Formal charges were filed Wednesday on a man arrested for the shooting death of a Lafayette woman.

Nineteen-year-old Darius Javon Printup is charged with murder, pointing a firearm, and carrying a handgun without a license. Prosecutors also plan to seek an enhanced penalty for firearm use, which means he will get 5-20 more years added to his sentence.

Printup is accused in the Oct. 12 shooting death of 52-year-old Kristi Redmon at Redmon’s home on Ridgeway Avenue.

According to prosecutors, Printup approached several people seeking help in finding “a male acquaintance who had ripped him off.” The witnesses told investigators that Printup said the man took his “backpack, which contained drugs.”

They parked in front of a house, which one witness pointed out as a “location where the male may have been in the past.”

Prosecutors said another witness and Printup went to the house and spoke with a woman who said the man was not there and she had no idea where he was staying. They left the house and drove away but parked on a street nearby.

Prosecutors said the witness and Printup then walked back to the house because Printup thought the woman was lying to him. The woman answered after Printup rang the door bell and the two spoke briefly, before Printup pulled out a handgun and shot her multiple times. The pair then returned to the car and left.

Printup was in court again Wednesday afternoon to hear the formal charges against him and the no bond order initially enacted was upheld. This comes after Monday’s initial hearing had a 72-hour hold put on the case.

Printup will be assigned a public defender.