AUDIO: 2023 Hostage Suspect Killed by IMPD Connected to...
AUDIO: 2023 Hostage Suspect Killed by IMPD Connected to Tennessee Kidnapping & Murder
Source: Indianapolis Metro Police / IMPD YouTube
ERIE COUNTY, Pa. — You may remember the semi-truck driver who held a woman hostage in Indianapolis last year, holding a razor blade to her throat. He was shot and killed by Indianapolis police, and now police in Pennsylvania have connected him to a murder.
Lamont Bland, 60, was found inside of a white semi-truck by Indianapolis Metro Police on November 30th, 2023. The semi was parked in a McDonald’s parking lot on Knights Way, and a McDonald’s customer heard a woman screaming from inside of the semi. IMPD arrived, heard the woman screaming, and broke the window the get inside of the semi.
Bland was on top of the woman, razor blade to her throat, and told police “I’m going to kill her. I have nothing to lose.”
The woman had cuts all over her body. She told police that Bland had beat her and cut her for six hours.
An IMPD officer leaned forward with his gun and shot Bland in the head, killing him. The edited police body camera footage was released earlier this year.
Pennsylvania State Police have confirmed Lamont Bland was the man responsible for a kidnapping and murder that happened shortly before he was shot and killed by IMPD.
LISTEN: INTERVIEW WITH PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE (EDITED FOR CLARITY)
Michelle Tayse, 48, was kidnapped from Nashville, Tennessee and was found dead on November 10th, 2023, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Tayse was stabbed and her body was burned, dumped on the side of the road near mile marker 30.1 on Interstate 90 in Mill Creek Township.
When Pennsylvania State Police went to Nashville, Tennessee to gather information, they received a tip about Lamont Bland. They learned Bland had been killed in Indianapolis, and then searched Bland’s cell phone location data.
“Bland was an over the road truck driver and was placed in Nashville, Tennessee at the time of Tayse’s disappearance and in Erie County, PA (Pennsylvania) prior to her body being discovered,” says Trooper Todd Bingman, Public Information Officer with Pennsylvania State Police.
Michelle Tayse’s DNA was also found in Bland’s semi, say police.
“Due to the death of the suspect, this case will be closed,” Trooper Bingman tells WIBC News/Network Indiana.
As for the police shooting itself, the conduct of the officer involved is under investigation by IMPD’s Critical Incident Response Team. A third-party review of IMPD’s 2023 police shootings is still ongoing to determine if each officer’s response in each shooting incident was justified.
