NEWTON COUNTY, Ind. (WTHR) — Police are now looking for a fifth person in connection to the murder and torture of a mother from West Lafayette.
The Newton County Sheriff says they want to question Talitha Beckley about the death of Nicole Bowen.
They're not calling Beckley a suspect, but said she does have an unrelated warrant.
The new development comes after three of the four suspects in the case were scheduled to be in court on Wednesday. They're facing accomplice charges.
Christopher Mathis was arrested Monday in Zionsville in connection with the case. Officers found him hiding under a bed inside a woman's apartment.
Mathis, two women and 21-year-old Garret Kirts have been charged in the death of Nicole Bowen. The victim leaves behind two young sons.
Nicole Bowen's mother had just laid her youngest daughter to rest last Friday when she got the call from investigators she'd been waiting for all week.
"He told me the news and my sadness turned to joy," said Cheryl Samuels.
Investigators in Newton County told Samuels they believed they had her daughter's killer behind bars. The county prosecutor told Eyewitness News he wants life without parole for Kirts for allegedly torturing Nicole before she died.
The 30-year-old woman's body was found last Saturday in a Newton County field.
"I'm going to miss her tremendously," Samuels said. "She didn't deserve what she got, she didn't."
"It's a shock to find out that your child has died, but it's even more of a shock and heartbreak that she died at the hands of somebody else," said Samuels.
Investigators also arrested Jasmine Parker, 34, and 26-year-old Ashley Garth in connection with the case.
They plan to charge Mathis with assisting a criminal.
The prosecutor released a Facebook entry he believed was posted recently, showing Mathis and a woman he says could be helping Mathis elude police.
Samuels said she hopes it's only a matter of time before everyone connected to her child's murder is behind bars.
"Please do the right thing. Let the Newtown County Sheriffs Department know her sons deserve justice. They're young and they will never be able to talk to their mom again and hear her voice. and if for no other reason, do it for her boys," said Samuels.
Bowen leaves behind two boys, Riley, age 2 and Korbin, age 8.