By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
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INDIANAPOLIS — A Greenwood man has been charged with the murder of an Indianapolis woman who was found in the White River nearly four-and-half-years ago.
Marion County prosecutors charged Riki James Eaton, 32, of Greenwood, with murder on Thursday. If convicted, he faces 45 years to death.
Prosecutors say Eaton shot Jenny Boltinghouse, 30, multiple times in the head and forearm in February 2017. Boltinghouse’s body was found by a man who was fishing in the White River near the 2900 block of South Harding Street, Indianapolis, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday in Marion County Superior Court 21.
Police first learned of Eaton’s potential involvement in the murder in July 2019, when one of his relatives told police Eaton had said three different times he killed Boltinghouse, according to court documents.
Eaton suspected that Boltinghouse, his cousin, was stealing from his garage, so he shot her, court documents said.
No major breakthroughs came in the case until May, when a witness who initially denied knowledge of the killing or misled investigators contacted the Greenwood Police Department saying they had knowledge of the killing. The witness told Greenwood police Eaton had killed Boltinghouse, according to court documents.
Greenwood police contacted IMPD, and IMPD detectives talked to several witnesses they had previously interviewed who had denied knowledge of the killing or misled investigators. The witnesses would later identify Eaton as the killer, court documents said.
Witnesses said Eaton had threatened to harm them or their families if they told police about Boltinghouse’s death, prosecutors say. Eaton allegedly forced witnesses to help him dispose of the body, according to court documents.
When Indianapolis detectives interviewed Eaton earlier this month, he denied having any knowledge of Boltinghouse died, and said he had not seen her for a few weeks before her death. Phone records show Eaton was near the location where Boltinghouse’s body was found, and the location and timing were consistent with what witnesses told police, court documents said.
Eaton also has a criminal history in Johnson County. Just this year, in May, he was charged with resisting law enforcement and criminal trespass, both misdemeanors. He was set to go to trial in September, but the trial was canceled after his arrest for murder, according to online court records.
Indianapolis police arrested Eaton earlier this week. He is held without bond at the Marion County jail. He had an initial hearing on Thursday, and a jury trial is set to begin on Jan. 24.
