Police Find People ‘Shackled’ In Woman’s Home, One Dead In ‘Gruesome’ Crime Scene

A 36-year-old woman in Indiana was arrested after she and her partner allegedly duct-taped two people to chairs and abused them in a house, which resulted in one of the victims dying, police said.

Heidi Kathleen Carter was preliminarily charged with felony murder, rape and abuse of a corpse after police discovered a dead man and a chair-bound woman inside a house at 1801 Stinson Avenue in Evansville Tuesday night, The Evansville Courier & Press reported.

Carter, who had a history of violent crimes based on records, was also charged with felony counts of criminal confinement with a firearm, intimidation with a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and assisting a criminal, according to a more recent report from the newspaper. She was booked into the Vanderburgh County jail.

Carter met the two victims on a dating app and engaged with a sexual activity with them when Carey Hammond, who was believed to be Carter's boyfriend, arrived home, according to an affidavit. Hammond allegedly became enraged over the scene and began to beat one of the victims with a baseball bat.

The couple then restrained the two victims in chairs with duct tape and beat them for hours, police said.

Hammond choked the male victim to death with a belt, according to investigators. The female victim survived the ordeal and was found tied up, shackled and had visible injuries before being taken to a hospital, WEHT/WTVW reported.

Evansville police spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray called the incident "gruesome."

Carter later admitted to helping Hammond restrain the victims. Additionally, she allegedly wielded a gun and made threats while Hammond raped the female victim.

Carter, however, also told police she only pretended to help Hammond to appease him.

Officers were called to the Stinson Avenue residence just after 11 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving a report of a possible kidnapping and murder.

Hammond was reportedly shot by officers after he walked out of the door in an aggressive manner while holding an object in his hand that police believed was a weapon. He ​was pronounced dead at the scene, while Carter was found outside of the home near a vehicle.

The object Hammond was clutching was a piece of metal or plastic twisted into the shape of a firearm, police said. Investigators called his gesture "suicide by cop."

The woman who reported the possible murder and kidnapping to authorities previously visited the home to help Carter clean the place for a "landlord inspection," but she heard "a female asking for help and begging to use the restroom" in the home, an affidavit said.

"She then went to sit down on what she thought was a pile of pillows and blankets. She found after she sat down that under the blankets was a dead body," the document continued.

Carter allegedly did not allow the woman to leave initially, but she was able to escape and alerted an Indiana State Police trooper who happened to be nearby.

Investigators were unsure how Carter and Hammond ended up at the Stinson Avenue home as the former was not a resident of Evansville.

The man who police believe lives in the home reportedly exited the premises with his hands up as soon as officers arrived and was not considered a suspect.

Two juvenile teenagers and several pets were also inside the residence when police searched it.

The investigation into the incident is still ongoing, according to Gray.

The Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office will release the male victim's name after an autopsy Friday, coroner Steve Lockyear said.