An Indiana man was found hiding in the woods wearing only his underwear after an hours-long manhunt for the suspect police say is accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend.
Brent Wellman, 33, was captured Thursday following a dramatic police chase in Dearborn County, according to Dearborn County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens.
Wellman reportedly ditched his car after the chase, stripped down, and tried to hide in the water at Laughry Creek before he was spotted with “redness on his body” and taken into custody.
The incident began around 5:40 a.m. on Thursday, August 14 when a 911 caller reported hearing gunfire and seeing a blood-soaked man slumped inside a blue SUV on U.S. 50 in Dillsboro. The caller reported seeing another man crawling from the back seat to the front.
But when deputies arrived, the vehicle sped off before crashing a short distance away. Inside the nearby woods, officers later discovered the body of 39-year-old Dennis W. Adams Jr. of Erlanger, Kentucky, with multiple gunshot wounds.
Investigators say Adams had recently started dating Wellman’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel Warren.
Just days before the shooting, Wellman reportedly asked to leave belongings at Warren’s house and on Wednesday, tried to call to wish their child a happy birthday.
The ex reportedly told Wellman she would not be home from work that night, but that he could pick their child up from a relative in the morning.
The night before the killing, Warren and Adams believed someone was trying to break into her home but found no one outside, prosecutors said.
When Adams left for work the next morning at 4:45 a.m., he was shot multiple times in the upper back and shoulder.
Wellman faces charges of murder, resisting law enforcement, and a felony firearm enhancement.
He is being held at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center and is set to make his first court appearance Monday.
