GREENFIELD — Sitting at the witness stand, the woman told the judge, prosecutors and others in the courtroom how her mother feared for her life and had even moved in with her the past two months while she tried to break away from her estranged boyfriend, Ronald Lee McClure.
McClure, 49, Indianapolis, is accused of a Level 1 felony count of attempted murder, along with multiple other charges, after the witness’s mother was stabbed multiple times and nearly bled to death outside a convenience store on Saturday evening, May 8. The daughter spoke during McClure’s initial hearing in Hancock County Superior Court 1 in front of Judge D.J. Davis Friday morning, May 14. She told the court McClure had contempt for a protection order her mother had obtained in Marion County in late April. She was certain, she said, that if McClure was released from jail, he’d come after her mother yet again.
Prosecutor Brent Eaton requested the court set bail at $1 million cash. Davis ended up setting the bond at $1.25 million cash after McClure, who was asked by the judge what he thought would be a fair bail amount, asked for a $3,000 cash bond.
Davis assigned McClure a public defender, Jeff McClarnon, and entered a not-guilty plea on McClure’s behalf. Davis also put a no-contact order in place for the victim and her family members.
“I’m thrilled,” the victim’s daughter said after the hearing, noting her mother is doing well but has a long road of recovery ahead of her.
Wearing an orange jail uniform and flip-flops, McClure was brought into the courtroom surrounded by deputies. Before asking for the hefty bond, chief deputy prosecutor Aimee Herring told the court the victim, who is recovering from multiple stab wounds at an Indianapolis hospital, would be in extreme danger if McClure was let out.
“He’d have the potential to finish what he started,” Herring said. “He’s a serious danger to this victim as well as her family and the community at large.”
Herring cited repeated violations of the protective order outlined in court documents, saying there were at least five violations of the existing order, showing McClure’s disdain for the law.
“The victim clearly feared for her safety,” Herring said. “She feared him to the point of fleeing her own residence to her daughter’s and then approximately an hour-and-a-half prior to the incident she contacted the IMPD (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) to report another violation of the order.”
The judge set a pretrial hearing for McClure at 10 a.m. May 26.
In the meantime, Hancock County Sheriff’s Department investigators said they are trying to figure out how McClure tracked the victim to Hancock County from Indianapolis and was able to catch up with her at the Speedway store at the corner of U.S. 40 and Mt. Comfort Road about 9:45 p.m. Saturday. One of the stab wounds was to the woman’s heart, requiring surgery as soon as she arrived at the hospital, her daughter said.
Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer with the sheriff’s department, noted detectives are doing a forensic investigation on McClure’s phone to see if he had a tracking program on the victim or simply followed her from her daughter’s home, from which she fled after receiving threatening text messages.
Technology also helped deputies close in on McClure on Sunday, May 9, after he fled the scene of the stabbing the night before. Officials added the license plate number of the car he was driving to a database linked to license plate cameras in the area. The system returned a hit on the car’s location in Cumberland, and deputies were able to arrest McClure.
“We haven’t had those cameras that long, and they already helped us catch an attempted murder suspect,” Harris said.
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The woman who was attacked Saturday evening, May 8, at the Speedway store, 5972 W. U.S. 40, had two dogs in her vehicle at the time. One was recovered, but the other one, a small, older black-and-white dog, is still missing. The dog’s name is Skyrider, and the dog was wearing a collar and might still be on a leash. The dog was last seen at the intersection of U.S. 52 and Mt. Comfort Road. If you spot the dog, please contact the sheriff’s department at 317-477-1144.
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