Detectives with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force have secured murder charges against a Gary woman accused of shooting and killing a second woman with whom she was in a relationship Saturday night.
Leveda Boyd, 40, is charged with the March 2 murder of Diamond Manning, 21, of Gary, who was shot multiple times and left in a low-traffic area on West 30th Avenue near Broadway in Gary. She also faces a firearm enhancement and faces up to 85 years in prison if convicted, Lake County Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Myrna Maldonado said in a release.
Gary Police were called around 11:05 p.m. March 2 to the 300 block of West 30th Aveune for a welfare check on a woman lying on the sidewalk, The Post-Tribune reported previously. An officer found Manning, who appeared to be injured.
Gary paramedics arrived and determined Manning was dead from gunshot wounds.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Manning’s relative told police that she picked him up from Cooper’s Hawk restaurant in Merrillville around 9:30 p.m., and they drove to their residence in the 3900 block of Rhode Island Street in Gary.
Upon arriving at the house at 9:45 p.m., he saw a white Chevy Equinox belonging to Boyd, who was Manning’s on-again-off-again girlfriend. Right before he went in the house, Manning told him that she would not be leaving the house that night as she had to take their grandmother to church in the morning, court records state. Manning stayed outside, while the relative went inside the house. Around 11:30 p.m., he noticed that Manning wasn’t at the house and Boyd’s vehicle was also gone, records state. Manning had told him two days prior that she intended to break up with Boyd.
Police spotted a white Equinox turning off West 30th Avenue to northbound Broadway around 9:50 p.m. in surveillance camera footage at the Citgo gas station at 3077 Broadway, the affidavit states. The gas station was less than a half mile from where Manning’s body was found in a park-like area of 30th Avenue with no residences nearby. Around 9:51 p.m., Boyd’s license plate was seen at 80/94 and Broadway, records state.
Police were able to obtain security camera footage from another residence in the 3900 block of Rhode Island Street, which showed Manning arriving home with her brother than the Equinox leaving the residence about a minute later.
On March 3, police found the Equinox parked in the 700 block of East 14th Avenue and seized it for a warrant application, court records state. Police spoke to Boyd at the police department, who told them that she left Manning’s residence at 9:53 p.m., according to a text message she received from Manning. Boyd said the message said that Manning was done talking and was going inside her house, but the time she cited didn’t line up with the time of the security footage at the Citgo station and the license plate reader hit, record state.
Boyd told police that she went to her girlfriend’s house on 14th Avenue where she said she stayed the rest of the evening.
Then Boyd changed her statement, saying they had decided on an open relationship, before changing her story for second time saying she took a different route to the 14th Avenue residence, records state. She claimed to be nowhere near 30th and Broadway at any point in the evening, which is contrary to the camera footage.
Another license plate reader hit tracked Boyd’s Equinox to the intersection of 5th and Wabash around 11:23 p.m. that same night, contradicting Boyd’s claim that she was at the 14th Avenue residence for the rest of the evening, the affidavit states.
Police obtained a search warrant for Boyd’s cell phone. Around 8:40 p.m., Boyd starts a text conversation with a contact labeled “D,” which was consistent with Manning’s number. She told Manning that she was waiting for her at the Rhode Island Street residence. Manning responded “omg; go home; u pissing [me] off” until around 9:26 p.m., records state. There were no further texts until 9:53 p.m., which is after the time when police believe she was shot and killed. There’s also a canceled call at 11:36 p.m. from Manning to Boyd and a notification in Boyd’s phone from 9:07 p.m. for a FaceTime call from “D,” who was labeled in the alert as a “Lying (expletive) (expletive),” court records state.
On March 2, Manning posted on Facebook that “I’m off you for good now” with a peace emoticon.
A relative of Manning’s said she received a notification around 9:51 p.m. that Manning stopped sharing her location with her at 9:51 p.m. on March 2, the affidavit states. Manning’s cell phone was not found at the scene of her death and its whereabouts are unknown. The relative asked Manning over text why she turned her location off and she says “Veda got my location,” records state. The relative replied “why?” and “Are you going to be home in the morning” with no response.
A witness told police that Manning and Boyd had been experiencing relationship problems and on March 1 Boyd shared a post stating “As a Cancer I hate getting cheated on,” court records state.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force consists of detectives with the Gary Police Department, Indiana State Police, Indiana State Excise Police, and the East Chicago Police Department. The Indiana State Police and Gary Police Department crime labs also assisted in the investigation.
Anyone with further information on Manning’s murder should contact Detective Brian McCall at 219-755-3855.
Meredith Colias-Pete contributed.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
