Indiana police arrested a man accused of murdering a boy and his stepmom at age 14, closing a 20-year hunt that never went cold for the victims' families.
Reporting identifies the suspect as Michael Jerome James, 35, taken into custody Friday at his Shelbyville home by Franklin Police, Shelby County Police, and an FBI agent.
James now faces two counts of murder in the July 2006 killings of Chynna Dickus, 26, and her stepson Blake Dickus, 10. He would have been 14 years old when the pair were found dead inside their Franklin home. Prosecutors say he will be tried as an adult.
Sean Dickus, the boy's father, discovered the bodies after returning home from work. Chynna had been stabbed to death. Blake had been knifed, beaten, and suffocated. For two decades, the case sat without an arrest while the families waited.
Johnson County prosecutor Lance Hamner said police brought forward an investigation that his office took to a grand jury. That panel listened to the evidence over three weeks and returned the indictment.
Hamner made the process plain.
"All I can say is that [police] brought us an investigation that we took to the grand jury. The grand jury listened to the evidence over a period of three weeks and then they returned that indictment."
He added that authorities are not looking for other suspects or co-conspirators. Prosecutors have not disclosed the specific evidence said to link James to the killings. The motive remains unclear.
Days before the arrest, the reward for information on the case had been quadrupled to $100,000. Hamner urged anyone with knowledge to step forward.
"It is time for those who know something to come forward. It is time for answers."
Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran credited officers who kept working the file long after many cold cases fade. He said detectives reviewed evidence, chased new leads, and used advances in forensic science while staying focused on the victims and their families.
Cochran addressed the families directly after the indictment.
"For 20 years, Blake and Chynna’s families have carried the weight of an unimaginable loss, waiting for this day. 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."
He called the indictment the result of 20 years of persistent investigative work and said the officers' sustained effort brings a measure of resolution for the victims, their families, and the community.
James lived in the Shelbyville area for the past two years after leaving Franklin. He grew up only a few miles from the home where Chynna and Blake were killed.
He was born in Texas. A source close to the investigation said Child Protective Services removed James and his sister from their Texas home as their mother battled drug addiction. After their mother's death, an aunt adopted him and the family moved to Indiana.
In 2015, investigators looked at whether burglaries, including one on the day of the killings, might have been linked to the murders. They also examined a possible domestic violence angle. Those earlier tracks did not produce charges at the time.
Neighbor Dale Fornett told local reporters that Franklin Police, Shelby County Police, and an FBI agent carried out the Shelbyville arrest. Another neighbor, Nancy Nigh, struggled with the age of the accused at the time of the crime.
"What was in his mind at the time, being that young to want to do something to those people, especially the little boy?"
James remains accused, not convicted. The indictment puts the facts before a jury, and the families finally have a defendant in court after twenty years of waiting.
Cold cases close when police keep working and prosecutors demand answers. Blake and Chynna's families deserved that persistence, and every community does.
