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Brown County man jailed on homicide charge
Updated on: 11.28.12

A Brown County man is in jail preliminarily charged with homicide in the death of a man found in Indianapolis Monday morning.

Benjamin Munn, 38, Brown County, was taken into custody at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27. Bartholomew County and Brown County officers stopped a vehicle in which he was riding near the Brown-Bartholomew county line, on Mt. Healthy Road/Bartholomew County Road 700 South last night.

A woman with him also was arrested on an outstanding warrant for identity deception from Lawrence County. She has not been charged in this case.

Munn lives on the property where police were searching for clues yesterday in the death of 31-year-old Jamie S. Simpson, the Brown County man who was found dead at around 7:30 a.m. Monday in an alley near downtown Indianapolis.

A neighbor was taking trash out to the alley when he noticed a pair boots behind the cans, then saw a person laying on the ground, said Alfarena Ballew, Marion County chief deputy coroner.

Simpson was not carrying any identification, she said. He was identified by his fingerprints.

The preliminary coroner's report shows he died of a single gunshot wound.

Simpson’s family was notified in Brown County's Hamblen Township and in Edinburgh.

Police from three agencies searched the 44-acre, wooded property in the 4700 block of Peoga Road, just inside the Brown/Johnson county line, for more than eight hours Tuesday.

“We believe that this person had been here at some point, and that there may have been some type of an altercation,” Sheriff Rick Followell said about the victim.

Simpson had been missing since Saturday night. His father reported him missing to the Brown County Deputy Scott Bowling at 8:39 a.m. Monday, and officers looked for him at addresses in Brown, Bartholomew and Shelby counties. Brown County officers were initially treating the case as a missing person investigation until they learned of Simpson's death midway through their search on Peoga Road Tuesday morning.

Police secured a search warrant for the house on the property, and also for the vehicle in which Munn was riding when he was stopped Tuesday night.

Investigators and the prosecution were still conducting interviews Wednesday afternoon.

Formal charges had not been filed as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. Munn remains jailed without bond.

His initial hearing has been set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

-- Sara Clifford and Kevin Lilly, Brown County Democrat

Read Tuesday's story about this case by clicking here.

Benjamin Munn

Obituaries
See Full List »

Dorothea “Dot” Johnson, 84, Bloomington
  Brown County native

Jeanette E. McGuire, 92, Columbus
  Mother of Sharon (Gary) Hoover of Nashville

Robert E. “Bob” Neat, 89, Brown County
  Grandfather of Joy (Aaron) Jackson of Nashville

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  • June 20
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