Court docs: Man gunned down in backseat after meeting with prostitute on Indy’s south side

INDIANAPOLIS — Court documents reveal an Indianapolis man was gunned down in the backseat of his car after meeting a prostitute in a secluded parking lot on the city’s south side.

Joshua Blackwell of Kokomo was charged on March 5 with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, obstruction of justice and theft with a prior.

Court documents reveal that on Feb. 19, Demetrius Starks, 21, was found shot to death in the backseat of his white Nissan Maxima with his pants down around his ankles. His car was spotted in the rear parking lot of a strip mall in the 7600 block of Shelby Street by a groundskeeper.

The groundskeeper had noticed the vehicle while cleaning up trash around the property early in the morning. The man didn’t take a closer look until hours later, noticing the Nissan’s door was ajar. Looking inside, the groundskeeper discovered Starks’ bloody body.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage that captured the deadly shooting. In the footage, Starks’ Nissan can be seen arriving at the parking lot around 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 18. A silver Ford Explorer parks beside it.

A woman exits the Explorer and gets into the Nissan. Only two minutes later, a male suspect runs up to the Nissan’s rear passenger door and starts yelling, “Open the f***ing door!”

The woman is seen quickly exiting the Nissan while Starks can reportedly be heard shouting, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

The suspect — alleged to be Blackwell — then can be seen firing his gun four times into the Nissan’s backseat, according to police. Both Blackwell and the woman run back to the Explorer but, before leaving, Blackwell returns to the Nissan and fires two more shots at the victim.

According to court documents, Blackwell returned to the scene of the shooting roughly six hours later — around 5:30 a.m. — and can be seen in surveillance footage shining a light into the Nissan and grabbing items from inside the car.

Family members of the victim later told police that Starks should have been in possession of an iPhone 16 and a black Glock 19 handgun.

Investigators obtained text messages that revealed Starks had been speaking with another person and had offered to meet at the strip mall on Shelby Street for “CarPlay” and that he’d pay for the “CarPlay” in cash.

Investigators ultimately tracked the Ford Explorer back to Blackwell and pulled him over in Noblesville on Feb. 28. A woman, who claimed to be a prostitute and Blackwell’s girlfriend, was with the suspect when police pulled the Explorer over.

According to court documents, the woman said she’d met up with Starks after agreeing to have sex in his car for money. She claimed Starks pulled a gun on her while the two were in the backseat in order to force her into a sex act she had not agreed to. The woman said she’d been on the phone with Blackwell — so he could monitor her safety — and that he came running “to the rescue.”

The woman admitted to police that Blackwell shot Starks after she exited the backseat of the Nissan. But she claimed it was “him or her” and that Blackwell “saved her life.”

According to the woman’s account, she told police that Blackwell returned to the Nissan hours after the shooting and collected Starks’ wallet and gun. He reportedly threw the items out the window while the couple was en route to Kokomo. But she later changed this story, saying Blackwell actually kept Starks’ gun and it was at their Kokomo apartment.

Despite the woman’s account, Blackwell refused to speak to police and denied shooting Starks or having any involvement in the man’s death. When shown photographs, including of the guns found in the Kokomo apartment, Blackwell slightly changed his tune, saying, “Did she tell you I did this? My side of the story is her side of the story.”

According to the court documents, one of the guns found in the Kokomo apartment was a black Glock 19, the same type of gun family members said Starks owned.

If convicted of murder, Blackwell could face up to 65 years in prison.