INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man has been charged after a woman was shot and left on the interstate on the city’s far east side.
Jason Rhea, 45, has been charged for the murder of Dai-Ghia Hogan, 21. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office charged him with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon on May 2.
Hogan’s body was found by an Indiana State Police trooper patrolling on Interstate 70 near Cumberland Road on the morning of March 1. The Marion County Coroner’s Office determined she had been shot twice in the back of the head.
According to court documents, the shooting happened at the same location where her body was found.
Police say they connected Rhea to the murder via surveillance video at the Motor 8 motel in the 3700 block of North Shadeland Ave. as well as cellphone data records. Court documents also state casings found inside of Hogan’s body matched rounds found inside a firearm located at Rhea’s home.
According to court records, Rhea served more than a decade in an Arizona prison for a violent crime.
He has two pending cases in Marion County. In November 2020, he was charged with resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, obstruction of justice, and possession of marijuana.
On Friday, he was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of paraphernalia.
He was also charged with two counts of murder in Marion County in 1999, along with robbery, burglary, auto theft and other charges. Murder charges were dismissed and he took a guilty plea for two counts of robbery, according to online court records.
Online court records do not yet list an initial court appearance for his new charges.
