Staff Report

COLUMBIA CITY — More details on the murder of a Fort Wayne man in Whitley County have been released.

Robert T. Drake, 28, Columbia City, is charged with murder, a felony; and theft, a class A misdemeanor.

Mia S. Griffin, 34; and Ashlynn B. McClain, 20, both of Fort Wayne, are each charged with murder, a felony.

Around noon on Monday, March 14, an Indiana State Police Trooper was traveling south on CR 700E in Whitley County. The trooper was heading toward SR 14 when he noticed what appeared to be a human body in or near the ditch on the east side of the roadway.

State Police crime scene units responded and were able to identify the body as that of Curtis E. Thomas, 30, Fort Wayne.

According to court documents, a brief examination of the body at the scene by the Whitley County Coroner indicated there was a single gunshot wound to the upper chest area, later ruling the death a homicide. An autopsy in Fort Wayne showed the bullet that killed Thomas entered in his upper chest and traveled down through his heart. A full forensic analysis is still pending.

Later that day, an ISP detective went to Fort Wayne to interview a known female associate of Thomas. The woman said she was contacted by Thomas, who told her he had caught a local bus and was meeting a person named “Iris” McClain. He then told the woman he arrived at Regency Inn in Fort Wayne. “Iris” McClain was ultimately found to be Ashlynn McClain.

Information retrieved from Thomas’s Facebook account showed a contact between McClain and Thomas. Officers obtained a search warrant for McClain’s phone.

McClain was located in Cass County. She told officers that she was the one communicating with Thomas to coordinate his pick-up. She eventually explained that she and Thomas were going to a hotel to use illegal drugs and be physically intimate.

McClain said she and two other people picked up Thomas at the Regency Inn on March 14. The four individuals in the vehicle included McClain, Thomas, Griffin, and Drake. Griffin was driving while McClain was the front seat passenger. Drake and Thomas were in the back seat.

At some point during the car ride from Regency Inn, McClain said Thomas began acting strangely and that Drake and Thomas began shouting at one another. McClain said there was a single gunshot from the back seat and described a sound coming from Thomas consisting with agonal breathing, or the breathing that immediately precedes death.

McClain told officers that they pulled to the side of the road and that Drake shoved Thomas’s body out of the vehicle. They continued traveling south on CR 700E and then proceeded east to SR 14.

McClain indicated that she was in the vehicle the entire time prior to the shooting, but did not call emergency personnel or report the shooting to law enforcement.

Griffin was the owner of the vehicle in which Thomas was shot. She drove the group to pick Thomas up and was driving the vehicle when Thomas’s body was dumped. She drove away from the scene and then took Drake back to Allen County.

McClain said they dropped Drake off in Fort Wayne and that Drake took all of Thomas’s possessions with him when he left the vehicle.

Drake, McClain, and Griffin were arrested on March 19. All three have been booked in the Whitley County Jail.

Thomas’s mother has established a GoFundMe for funeral expenses.