Some Bad News For Muncie Southside Alumni

I feel like I should repost this, just in case anyone missed it. Jennifer and I were not close friends, but we did go to school together and we talked on occasion. I just absolutely cannot wrap my head around this brutal murder! I can't see Jennifer in this kind of situation, as I remember her as a sweet, quiet, polite girl who always had a smile for everyone.

Rest in peace, Jennifer, you will be missed!

Jennifer A. Stafford, 29, 708 N. Eastwood Ave., was found beaten to death inside her mobile home about 8:30 a.m. Friday by her mother, Debbie Stafford.

Debbie Stafford told The Star Press on Friday afternoon that Muncie police were looking for a man who had lent money to her daughter's ex-boyfriend.

City police on Friday night identified the suspect as Robert A.C. Murphy, a 40-year-old convicted felon from Muncie. Debbie Stafford suspected her daughter's slaying was related to the debt because her daughter's car, Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation were missing from the home Friday.

"Jennifer had no enemies," Debbie Stafford said. "She was a good, loving girl."Police on Friday morning issued a be-on-the-lookout for Stafford's missing silver 2004 Grand Am. Murphy was not publicly identified as a suspect until several hours later. "We have some things we are following," Muncie police Capt. Mark Vollmar said Friday afternoon. "But nothing I can release at this point." Family and co-workers became suspicious that Jennifer Stafford was in trouble after she failed to show up for work Thursday at the Ball Memorial Hospital Pain Clinic, where she was a medical assistant.

Debbie Stafford last spoke to her daughter by phone Wednesday evening. In that conversation, Jennifer told her mother that Murphy had stopped by her home that evening asking for her ex-boyfriend's new cell phone number. The suspect, according to Debbie Stafford, had been friends with Jennifer and her ex-boyfriend. Debbie Stafford said she spoke with Jennifer's ex-boyfriend by phone Friday and he was cooperating with the investigation. "He was very upset," she said. The couple had met online last year. He moved to Muncie from Ohio to be with Jennifer, her mother said. The pair lived together at Jennifer's home on Eastwood from December until they broke up in February, Debbie Stafford said. Stafford said she believed the ex-boyfriend might have borrowed money to move back home. did not know how much he owed.

Jennifer Stafford was believed to have been about three months pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Debbie Stafford said. Jennifer Stafford also leaves behind a 7-year-old son, who lives with his father.

Neighbors didn't report seeing or hearing anything suspicious recently. The home is at the end of a dead-end street in an isolated neighborhood bordered by cornfields to the north. Jerry Walker said Stafford was quiet and once returned his dog when it got loose. "She was a real nice lady," Walker said.

Stafford's death is the first homicide inside Muncie city limits since Daiwaun Walton, 15, was killed by a stray bullet in a shootout on South Ebright Street on May 30, 2007.



*****The prime suspect in a Muncie woman's beating death is in police custody after surrendering Saturday at a local church.

Robert A.C. Murphy, 40, was being held without bond in the Delaware County jail, preliminarily charged with murder, auto theft and theft. Authorities allege Murphy killed Jennifer A. Stafford, 29, in her Eastwood Avenue mobile home. The victim failed to show up for work Thursday at Ball Memorial Hospital's pain center, and her body was found Friday morning by her mother.

The victim's car, a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am, was reported missing from her home, along with two video game systems.

"We know he was in her car on Thursday," Muncie police Capt. Mark Vollmar said shortly after Murphy's arrest.

Vollmar said investigators had not yet found the car, but suspected it might be in Flint, Mich., where Murphy reportedly visited his mother on Friday.

Police Lt. Al Williams, who was among the investigators questioning Murphy on Saturday night, said other items taken from Stafford's home had been recovered.

Williams said investigators believed the attack on Stafford had been prompted by "non-payment of a drug-related debt."

The victim's mother on Friday told The Star Press that her daughter's ex-boyfriend owed Murphy money.

Asked whether police believed Murphy had acted alone, Williams declined comment.

Before his arrest Saturday, Murphy had contacted local pastor Kevin Woodgett of Church of the Living God, 1120 E. Washington St. Woodgett said Saturday night he had talked to Murphy about the need to "clear his name, if he was not guilty."
The pastor arranged for Murphy to surrender, at the church, to Jason Walker, a sergeant with the Delaware County sheriff's department who also worships there.
Murphy was placed in custody about 4:20 p.m. by Walker, who drove the suspect to Muncie Police Department headquarters at city hall.
Walker said he had seen Murphy at church services but was not acquainted with him.
"He said, 'Brother Jason, I didn't do it,'" Walker recalled a few minutes after the surrender.

Earlier Saturday morning, Wayne County police chased, then stopped, a vehicle on U.S. 35 that they believed might contain Murphy. After eventually pulling the vehicle over near Economy, however, it was determined Murphy was not inside.
The vehicle involved in the pursuit was a Dodge Durango even though authorities were looking for Stafford's Grand Am.

In a Friday interview with The Star Press, the victim's mother said Stafford had told her in a Wednesday night phone conversation that Murphy had stopped at her home a short time earlier, asking for her former boyfriend's cell phone number.
According to Vollmar, Murphy told friends on Thursday that he intended to leave town.

Murphy was released from prison last September after serving time for a 2004 criminal confinement conviction. He was convicted of possession of cocaine in 2002, and has faced other drug-related charges that were later dismissed.*****