An Indiana man has been charged with murder after allegedly gunning down his wife days after she kicked him out of the house and filed for a restraining order against him.
The couple’s four children — ages 10, 14, 16, and 19 — were home at the time of the shooting on December 28 and called 911, WRTV reported.
Cecil Mains, 46, fled the home after leaving 44-year-old Jeri Mains dying in the driveway and was arrested during a traffic stop a short time later. He refused to speak with detectives and requested an attorney.
According to court documents, police recovered a .380 caliber handgun from Mains’ vehicle that matched ammunition found at the scene.
The Indianapolis Star reported multiple incident of domestic violence leading up to the fatal shooting, Jeri Mains filed for the order of protection at about 10:30 a.m. on December 25, but the petition ws not reviewed by a judge because the offices were closed from December 24 through 28.
In the petition, Mains said that Cecil Mains threw kitchen tongs at her the night before, cutting her arm and causing bruising. A day before that, he allegedly accosted her in the Justice Center parking lot, threatening to kill her and himself because she was filing for divorce. She wrote in the petition that she had a recording of the threats. Later on, he again threatened to kill himself, this time in front of her and the children.
Earlier last month, he punched her computer and knocked hot chocolate on her, and in November, he punched her in the face. Months earlier, she wrote, he punched the driver’s side window of her truck so hard he broke the glass. She also wrote that he had threatened to kill her, the kids, and their pets multiple times in recent years.
But the holidays meant it was too late to stop the murder. Police arrived and found Jeri Mains in the driveway. Medics rushed her to Eskenazi Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, WRTV said.
“The facts of this case are devastating,” said Prosecutor Ryan Mears. “As we move forward with the criminal proceedings, our thoughts remain with Jeri’s four children, who have endured an unthinkable tragedy and are now facing an incredibly difficult journey ahead.”
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[Featured image: Jeri Mains/Facebook and Cecil Mains/Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department]