‘I just wanted her dead’: After blood found everywhere, man allegedly claims self-defense in killing of woman found bludgeoned with space heater and frying pan

Regulus Baka (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police).

Blood festooned the walls of a residence where a woman was found bludgeoned to death in Indiana on Monday. Now, a man is behind bars.

Regulus Baka, 22, stands accused of one count of murder, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The victim in the case been identified as Shanaiya McDonald. Details of her death and the immediate aftermath are grim and gruesome.

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During the early morning hours of Dec. 30, at 5:43 a.m., the victim’s roommate called police after finding her dead behind a bedroom door, according to court documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star.

McDonald is said to have been suffering from obvious signs of trauma to her head and she was pronounced deceased shortly after emergency medical responders arrived at the apartment located on Ella Dobbs Lane on the south side of Indianapolis.

Responding officers allegedly found a blood-soaked towel on a porch outside. Inside, blood is said to have been spattered everywhere.

Signs of a struggle were present, police added in the court documents obtained by the newspaper. Next to the body was a plastic bag also drenched in blood, police allege. A piece of clear plastic tape had been applied to the upper portion of the victim’s head.

The woman who made the awful find is alleged to have pointed out who she believed might have been to blame for her roommate’s death, police say.

Pieces of the story then fell into place.

Investigators said a witness described hearing a woman scream for help at around 4 a.m. that day.

The apartment management said maintenance workers later found McDonald’s cellular phone in a dumpster – along with a laptop that had her name on the sign-in screen, police allege. In the same dumpster, police allegedly found a tell-tale piece of evidence: clear plastic tape with blood on it – similar to the tape found on the victim’s head.

The dumpster in question happened to be in the line of sight of a surveillance camera, police say. On the footage culled from that device, a man could be seen walking from the complex, throwing something away, and then leaving in a vehicle, police allege.

After that, law enforcement allegedly tied a vehicle in the Baka family to the vehicle seen in the surveillance footage, according to the court documents. Traffic cameras in the area – some four miles away from the scene of the crime – are said to have captured images of that vehicle, a black Ford Fusion, at around 4:33 a.m.

The vehicle was found at a different apartment complex, which police allegedly searched after receiving a warrant. The owner of the car, however, told investigators that Baka was sleeping at his parents’ house around the corner, according to law enforcement.

At Baka’s parents’ residence, several people left when initially prompted to do so by police, according to the court document. The defendant, oppositely, initially refused, police say.

Later, after the SWAT team was called, along with the use of a drone and distraction device, did Baka finally leave, police allege.

Police asked the defendant if he was hurt as he exited.

“Only from last night,” Baka allegedly replied.

The defendant was allegedly quite voluble in a subsequent confession after being Mirandized and interrogated.

At first, detectives used a French translator to make sure Baka understood his constitutional rights, according to the court documents cited by the Star. Baka, for his part, allegedly said he did and then insisted on conducting the interview in English.

The defendant allegedly said the two had a tempestuous relationship wherein the woman frequently cheated on him and otherwise treated him poorly. Baka offered evidence of such mistreatment as McDonald allegedly threatening to kill his family and slapping him in the face without justification, cause or reason.

Baka said he went to visit the victim on Dec. 29 and stayed through the night because McDonald’s birthday was Dec. 31. This said celebration soon deteriorated into the woman slapping the man and threatening to call someone else over to beat him up, he allegedly said.

The defendant insisted that he at first ignored the slaps but finally hit McDonald back after enduring a certain number – prompting a knock-down, drag-out fight, police allege.

At some point, Baka allegedly said, McDonald grabbed a knife and threatened to kill him whereupon he admittedly began repeatedly punching her in the head. The violence surged from there.

With the woman on the floor, the man then allegedly picked up a space heater and bashed her in the head with it four times. Then, he allegedly used a kitchen pan to inflict more of the same sorts of blows.

“I just wanted her dead,” Baka allegedly admitted.

The defendant also allegedly admitted to wrapping tape around McDonald’s nose – to insure she stopped breathing. Baka also allegedly said he stabbed her with a knife before disposing of the cellphone, computer, and roll of tape in a dumpster outside the building.

McDonald’s Employee Stabbed by Customer

23 Oct, 2024 Liz Carey

Jackson, MS (WorkersCompensation.com) – A McDonald’s employee is dead after a female customer stabbed them after an argument.

Officials said 22-year-old Destiny Gibson was arrested after she fatally stabbed the employee “several times,” with a large knife. The incident happened inside the restaurant. Law enforcement officers said it wasn’t clear whether Gibson grabbed the knife from the restaurant’s kitchen, or if she brought the knife with her.

The victim, 22-year-old Christopher Borras, was taking a break, when he was approached by Gibson, surveillance video showed. Officials said Gibson had no connection to the victim and that it’s unclear what her motive was in the stabbing.

Video showed Borras eating while on break Sunday afternoon at the McDonald’s on Northside Drive. Investigators said Gibson was sitting in the restaurant’s dining room using the WiFi when she attacked Borras. Officials testified during her court hearing on Monday that Gibson jumped on Borras and stabbed him in the chest. The investigator testified that Borras tried to get away from Gibson, but she went after him again.

Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade told media outlets that Gibson and Borras had been in an argument before she attacked him.

“Whatever the verbal exchange was, it did not justify you producing this very large knife to take this young man’s life,” Wade said.

The surveillance video showed the attack, and Borras’ struggle to survive after it, the chief said.

“We have retrieved that video; it is captured on video of her taking this young man’s life. He tried his best to make it through, but it was too much. It was a very large knife,” Wade said.

Customers and coworkers also witnessed the crime, officials said. One of the customers subdued Gibson until police could respond.

An attorney for Gibson, who is from Plainfield, Ill., said Gibson is homeless and has lived in Jackson for five years. During the hearing on Monday, officials said Gibson was arrested and charged with murder.

Officials said during the hearing that after Gibson was arrested, she was taken to jail where she allegedly attacked another inmate, stabbing them in the eye with a spoon. The judge in the case deemed her a danger to society and ordered her held pending a $2 million bond. Court officials said she will be housed away from other inmates.

The McDonald’s store owners said they will provide counselling for their employees. Michael Valluzo, the owner and operator of the store, said in a statement that his thoughts are with Borras’ family and loved ones.

“We are shocked and devastated by this violent attack on one of our own,” he wrote in his statement. “We are providing counseling to our crew members and fully cooperating with law enforcement during their investigation.”

The incident is one of several involving customers and workers this week.

In Oklahoma City, Okla., police released video this week of a customer robbing and fatally stabbing a 7-Eleven employee.

Officials said the suspect fled the scene after he attacked the 18-year-old female employee Jaedynn Anthony. Other customers called the police when they entered the store and found Anthony in distress, officials said.

Video shows the suspect entering the store around 2 a.m. and talking to Anthony while paying for his items.

“At some point when the victim who was a clerk there in the store opened the till the suspect pulled out a knife and demanded money from the register,” Sgt. Dillon Quirk, spokesperson for the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

Police said Anthony complied with the suspects demands, but the suspect stabbed the young woman and left, leaving Anthony critically injured and bleeding on the floor.

7-Eleven said they are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect.

And in Philadelphia, an employee of a Popeyes restaurant said he stabbed a customer in self-defense after the man hit the worker during an argument over a food order.

Police said the 28-year-old customer got into an argument with an employee of the North Broad Street Popeyes over his food around midnight last Tuesday. The heated exchange eventually escalated into a physical fight.

Once the argument became physical, the employee allegedly stabbed the customer in self-defense.

“The 28-year-old customer had some sort of dispute with employees over a food order and began attacking and assaulting one of the employees,” Chief Inspector Scott Small with the Philadelphia Police Department said. “Other employees intervened and tried to push this 28-year-old out — back out from the front door. That’s when the 34-year-old employee getting assaulted and attacked pulled a knife and stabbed the 28-year-old.”

The man was stabbed multiple times in the torse and head, officials said. While he tried to run off after the stabbing, police were able to track him down by following a trail of blood to a nearby house.

Shoppers and customers near the restaurant said they’re not surprised that a minor argument over a food order turned violent.

“Everybody is on edge, everybody is antsy. You never know what could happen,” one customer told WPVI.

The injured customer is now in stable condition. The employee has not been charged, pending an investigation into the incident. The entire incident was captured on the restaurant’s surveillance video, police said.