On the night of August 31, 2020, in Lafayette, Indiana, 37-year-old male Joshua L. Ungersma was working the late shift as a delivery driver for Domino's Pizza. A dedicated family man who had recently welcomed a newborn son, Ungersma held a primary job as a butcher at a local Payless Supermarket but had taken on the second job to provide extra financial support for his household. Around 11:00 p.m., he was dispatched to a residence in the 1900 block of North 16th Street to deliver an order.
Unbeknownst to him, the call was a setup orchestrated to lure a driver to the location for a robbery.
Upon arriving at the address, which turned out to be an abandoned house, Ungersma was confronted by 19-year-old Alberto Vanmeter and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Jaelynn Billups. Vanmeter approached Ungersma and attempted to rob him at gunpoint. Possessing a valid permit to carry a firearm, Ungersma drew his own revolver in self-defense and fired at Vanmeter, striking and killing him. Moments later, as Ungersma asked witnesses to call the police and explained he had been the target of a robbery, Billups, who was positioned across the street, approached him and opened fire with a 9mm handgun, fatally shooting the delivery driver.
Police officers arriving at the scene found Billups near the bodies. When ordered to show her hands, she threw the weapon onto the sidewalk and was immediately detained. Witnesses reported seeing the sequence of events, confirming that Ungersma had acted to protect himself from the initial robbery before being gunned down by Billups. Investigation revealed that Billups and Vanmeter had conspired to commit the robbery together. Consequently, Billups was charged not only for the murder of Ungersma but also for the death of her accomplice, Vanmeter, under Indiana’s felony murder statutes, which hold participants in a serious crime responsible for any deaths that occur during its commission.
In October 2021, a jury found Jaelynn Billups guilty on multiple counts, including murder, felony murder, armed robbery, and theft. During the sentencing hearing in December 2021, the prosecution requested a sentence of over 100 years, citing the severity of the crime and the loss of a hardworking father. However, the judge weighed mitigating factors such as Billups' youth and difficult upbringing against the aggravating circumstances. Ultimately, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her role in the double homicide that claimed the lives of both Joshua Ungersma and her boyfriend.
