A 53-year-old man has been charged in connection with the stabbing death of a woman whose body was found in the 900 block of E. Fairview in South Bend this past weekend.
Richard Lee Alexander is charged with Murder and Invasion of Privacy.
He was arrested on Monday on an outstanding warrant and remains in the custody of the St. Joseph County Jail.
Police were called to the area early Sunday morning, Sep. 13, after receiving a call about a woman needing help. Once on scene, they found Catherine Minix’s body between two homes. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Anderson’s initial hearing and arraignment are scheduled for Friday, Sep. 18.
The sentencing range for Murder is 45 to 65 years. The sentencing range for a Class A
Misdemeanor is up to 1 year.
Information from the Probable Cause Affidavit:
On September 13, 2020 at about 5: 19 a.m. South Bend dispatch received a call for a welfare check at Fairview. In searching the area, a female was found down in the lawn alongside the house with apparent trauma and was pronounced dead. The victim was identified as Catherine Minix, the resident at Victoria, South Bend. The victim’s home is North across the alley and just East of the yard where she was located. Surveillance footage was recovered from a neighbor’s home to the South and a larger and smaller figure could be seen leaving the back of the Minix home and walking into the alley at about 2:24 AM.
A blood trail began behind Minix’s next-door neighbor’s garage in the alley and led to where her body was located.
An autopsy has determined that Minix died of a stab wound.
The 9-l-l caller was identified as Mr. S.W., a friend of Richard Alexander who was staying at the home of Alexander’s sister.
S.W. stated that Alexander came to the house very early on the 13th and stated that S.W. should call 911 and send them to Fairview because he was concerned about his girl. Alexander waited while S.W. made the call, then left. Alexander’s sister confirmed
that she let Alexander into the house very early that morning and that he went and talked to S.W. while she went back to bed.
Richard Alexander has a history of domestic violence with Ms. Minix, and current No Contact Order is in place due to prior convictions of Invasion of Privacy and Domestic Battery against Ms. Minix in May of 2019.
Relative to the surveillance video, Alexander is significantly taller than Minix, and
the pair is consistent with the figures on the video.
L.W. is the ex-wife of Alexander. She has spoken to Alexander several times since the death of Minix, in person and on the telephone. One of the conversations was face to face on the afternoon of the 13th when Alexander told L.W. that he was going to prison. L.W. asked Alexander why he was going to prison, and Alexander replied, “Because killed the bitch.” L.W. understood Alexander was referring to Ms. Minix.
A search warrant was obtained for Alexander’s DNA. Alexander was brought to Metro Homicide for execution of that warrant. When Alexander was advised about the warrant he spontaneously objected to the warrant and said, “I wasn’t even there!” Surveillance video was subsequently obtained from the home of Catherine Minix. The evening before Minix’s death, Richard Alexander can be clearly seen coming to the house and Alexander and Minix can be heard conversing inside over a period of hours.
