David MacAnally/Eyewitness News
Muncie - New information led to a pair of arrests in a 15-year-old murder case.
In May 1993, police found Teresa French shot in the head and chest in the garage next to her home on Cromer Street. The 29-year-old mother was in the middle of a divorce when she was murdered.
"It's been a long road," said Teresa French's sister, Jennifer Nye. "You know justice will be served.
Muncie Police first arrested her husband, Tony French, but had to let him go when his alibi - he was at work - held up. But after a break in the case, he has been arrested and charged in the death along with 56-year-old Jess Woods, who police picked up in California.
Police aren't saying much about the case and the court ordered papers in the case are sealed until at least next week. Both men are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but it is unclear if this was a murder for hire. French is being held in the Delaware County Jail, while Woods is awaiting extradition from California.
Muncie Police Sergeant Michael Engle said the arrests were "extremely satisfying. Just solving a homicide is, but on a cold case like this, just very satisfying."
The French's neighbors on Cromer Street were surprised as well.
"I don't like the sound of that, what you just told me," one neighbor said.
"She was a very nice woman. Used to take care of my son," said Jim Miller.
While Miller is surprised his neighbor is now behind bars, the victim's sister is not. She agreed that the outcome reflects what she's suspected for the last 15 years.
"All we can say is, 'Thank God'," she said. "Our thoughts are with the kids. They are the ones dealing with this."
Teresa French left behind three children.
"It's bittersweet," Nye said. "It's going to be a long ordeal. We feel he's where he needs to be."
Tony French is in the Delaware County Jail. Jesse Woods must be extradited from California.
Police had to release Tony French 15 years ago because he had an alibi then. He was at work at the time of the murder. We should know this week what happened to erase that alibi.
