FRANKLIN, Ind. — A Johnson County grand jury has indicted a 35-year-old Franklin man on two counts of murder for the 2006 deaths of a 10-year-old boy and his stepmother.
Police took Michael Jerome James into custody following the indictment, which came after a three-week review of evidence and testimony. The charges relate to the deaths of Chynna Dickus, 26, and her stepson Blake Dickus. Family members found the two stabbed to death inside their Franklin home on July 24, 2006.
Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran said in a news release issued Friday afternoon that the department never forgot the two and never stopped seeking justice. He credited the investigations division and detectives for keeping the case active for 20 years. Cochran said the indictment happened due to new leads, and advances in forensic science, although new details were provided.
Detective Sgt. John Borges said in the release that investigators learned nearly 11 years ago that the deaths were linked to a string of five burglaries in Franklin. The daytime burglaries happened in June 2006 and July 2006 within a half-mile of the Dickus home on Aberdeen Drive. One burglary happened on the same day and street as the murders.
In each of those cases, the intruder cut window screens in a T-pattern to enter the homes. “The screen was cut in a T pattern, sliced over and sliced down to where it laid open to where somebody could actually crawl through a window,” Borges said.
Borges said the burglaries also shared another unusual detail: The intruder ransacked the homes and went through the refrigerators.
Johnson County Prosecutor Lance D. Hamner said in a separate news release late Friday afternoon that the crime happened during his first term as prosecutor and has remained with him since. The Republican said his desire to seek justice for the Dickuses was the primary reason he left his position as a judge in 2022 to run for prosecutor again. He was the county prosecutor from 1991 to 2009.
The indictment followed a renewed push on Sept. 25, when the prosecutor’s office asked to increase the reward for information from $25,000 to $100,000. Hamner said the incentive aimed to encourage people who remained silent to finally speak up.
Officials said an initial hearing will happen in Johnson Circuit Court, although online court records on Friday night did not yet show a case filed against James.
