A Shelbyville man has been arrested and indicted on two counts of murder in connection with the 2006 stabbing deaths of a Franklin boy and his stepmother, closing out a 20-year investigation that had gone cold for years.
Michael Jerome James, 35, was arrested Friday at his Shelbyville home. He was 14 at the time of the killings but will be tried as an adult, according to Johnson County prosecutor Lance Hamner.
Chynna Dickus, 26, and her 10-year-old stepson, Blake Dickus, were found stabbed to death in their Franklin home in July 2006. Chynna’s husband, Sean Dickus, discovered the bodies when he returned home from work. Chynna had been stabbed to death, while Blake had been stabbed, beaten and suffocated.
Franklin Police, Shelby County Police and an FBI agent carried out the arrest, according to James’ neighbor Dale Fornett, who spoke with Fox59.
Prosecutors have not disclosed what evidence ties James to the killings. “All I can say is that [police] brought us an investigation that we took to the grand jury,” Hamner said. “The grand jury listened to the evidence over a period of three weeks and then they returned that indictment.”
James grew up a few miles from the murder scene, according to a source close to the investigation who spoke with WTHR. Born in Texas, he was adopted by his aunt and moved to Indiana after his mother’s death; the source said James and his sister had been removed from their Texas home by Child Protective Services amid their mother’s struggle with drug addiction. Neighbors said James had been living in the Shelbyville area for the past two years after leaving Franklin.
The motive behind the killings remains unclear even after the arrest. “What was in his mind at the time, being that young to want to do something to those people, especially the little boy?” neighbor Nancy Nigh told Fox59.
Investigators had pursued multiple theories over the years. In 2015, they examined whether a string of burglaries — including one that occurred the same day Chynna and Blake Dickus were killed — might be connected to the case. Police also looked into a possible domestic violence angle.
Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran credited his department’s officers for keeping the case active over two decades.
“For 20 years, Blake and Chynna’s families have carried the weight of an unimaginable loss, waiting for this day,” Cochran said. “On behalf of the Franklin Police Department, I want them to know that we have never forgotten their loved ones and we have never stopped seeking justice.”
Cochran added that detectives had “reviewed evidence, pursued new leads, leveraged advances in forensic science, and remained committed to Blake, Chynna, and their families every step of the way,” calling the indictment “the culmination of 20 years of persistent and professional investigative work.”
Hamner said investigators are not looking for any other suspects or co-conspirators in the case. The arrest came just days after the reward for information in the killings was quadrupled to $100,000.
“It is time for those who know something to come forward. It is time for answers,” Hamner said.
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