Indiana Homeowner Granted Bail in Fatal Wrong Address Shooting

An Indiana homeowner accused of killing a house cleaner who accidentally went to the wrong home has been allowed out on bail as questions continue to swirl in the case of Curt Andersen, 62.

A Boone County judge on Friday granted bail to Andersen, who must wear a GPS monitor and paid a $25,000 bond, his attorney Guy Relford said. The bail ruling was first reported by the Indianapolis outlet WTHR.

The charge stems from the fatal shooting on Nov. 5 of Maria Florinda Rios Perez, 32, a Guatemalan immigrant, whose husband was her cleaning worker paired with her who together went to the wrong address of Andersen’s home in Whitestown, a suburb northwest of Indianapolis. State police arrested Andersen earlier this week on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter.

Details Emerge From Police Affidavit

In the police affidavit, Andersen is alleged to have fired from the top of his stairwell instead of opening the front door to see who was there. His wife told police that she tried to do so, but Andersen wouldn’t let her, thinking they might have weapons on them. Instead, he fired once at the duo, fatally wounding Rios Perez.

Andersen told his wife to call 911, but took the phone and reported a possible break-in, the dispatch logs demonstrated, as Andersen repeated to dispatch his fears saying, “Please come, they are trying to get in,” according to the affidavit, while holding his firearm with one hand and phone with the other. Even when police arrived, Andersen did not go downstairs for fear of them, saying that he couldn’t see if they were there or alive.

Investigators argued that Andersen believed those on his porch to have had a nefarious intention, but there were no signs that canvas-cleaners had attempted to break in.

Community Reaction and Growing Scrutiny

Neighbors told the Associated Press that Andersen had a fear of crime and bolted past people he didn’t know. One former neighbor of Andersen stated in the report that he never left his house. “He was very paranoid about the world,” 38-year-old Brittany Barker, who had lived nearby stated.

Many people said they were surprised that the tragic death of Rios Perez would have happened, given the circumstances of the use of firearms previously. Anderson said that the incident was an accident, declaring that he merely feared for himself and his wife in this situation.