In the late morning chill of February 18, 2018, the quiet of a rural Trafalgar, Indiana community was shattered by the sound of gunfire. Responding to a report of shots fired, deputies from the Brown County Sheriff's Department arrived at a home on Peoga Road, near the county line with Johnson County, to a grim discovery. In the front yard of the residence lay the body of 33-year-old Ashley Minatel, a resident of the home.
She had sustained three gunshot wounds, to her chest, head, and face, and her death was swiftly ruled a homicide by the county coroner. Ashley was a White female who had graduated from Manuel High School and had worked as a hairdresser before becoming a stay-at-home mother to her young daughter.
Present at the scene when law enforcement arrived was a 35-year-old man who also lived at the address and was the one who had called the police. He was taken in for questioning by investigators but was later released. The only other person at the home at the time of the shooting was a 3-year-old child; it remains unclear if the child witnessed the tragic events. Authorities stated that the shooting occurred during a domestic incident but alluded to there being more to the situation.
The Brown County Sheriff's Department, with the assistance of Indiana State Police crime scene technicians, launched an investigation into Ashley's death. In the weeks following the shooting, investigators were awaiting the results of forensic testing from the state police lab. The Brown County prosecutor stated that a decision on whether to file any charges would await the completion of the entire case file, a process expected to take a few months. Despite the initial flurry of investigation, no arrests have been made in the case, and the community was assured that there was no immediate danger. The investigation into the death of Ashley Minatel remains ongoing.
