As Merrillville Police Cpl. Gary Henry arrived at a crash scene just outside a Merrillville Menards, he tried to get as much information from a surviving gunshot victim, afraid the man could die at a hospital.
Who did this?, the officer asked on the night of June 8, 2023.
“Don,” the man replied.
After an investigation, police alleged Dejuan McIntyre, now 45, of Gary, gunned down Ashley Bitikofer, 34, of Portage, his ex-girlfriend, and wounded the surviving man, whom she was seeing.
McIntyre’s trial started Monday. He is charged with murder and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie it may have involved a quasi-love triangle akin to something out of “Dateline.”
Bitikofer and the surviving man were co-workers at a Gary sugar factory, the lawyer said. After work on the day of the shooting, they went to a Super 8 motel afterward paid by McIntyre.
He found the pair there.
The men “exchanged words” there and in the parking lot. McIntyre, in a black SUV, followed the couple in the other man’s Saturn SUV. At a stoplight, the man noticed McIntyre got out and popped the hood to get something out of the engine.
Shortly afterwards, he heard gunshots and glass shatter.
The wounded man called 911. So did Bitikofer.
“Stop, the cops are coming,” Brandewie said she was heard saying.
Then, gunshots erupted.
“Those are the last words she ever said,” he told jurors.
Police later executed a search warrant at McIntyre’s home, finding a gun pocket under the hood of his vehicle. A gun recovered did not match the crime scene, but the ammunition did, he said.
Defense lawyer Michael Lambert said he disagreed with Brandewie’s conclusions. It is easy for a man to be “accused” and “charged” with a crime, he said. The evidence left a “series of questions unanswered.”
“I don’t think you are going to be convinced,” Lambert said.
Bitikofer’s relatives told police McIntyre was trying to “reconcile” in the days before he allegedly fatally shot her.
Police were called to the big box store’s parking lot, 6300 Mississippi St., at 11:13 p.m. June 8, 2023 after a 2007 Saturn Ion crashed into the store’s east fence.
Officers found the man, still alive, north of the fence. He was airlifted to a Chicago hospital.
Bitikofer was found south of the fence. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:15 a.m. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Police found five bullet casings and recovered Bitikofer and the wounded man’s cell phones. Bitikofer called 911, telling dispatchers she thought she was bleeding to death. She was going down a hill, she said.
The recording appears to show a physical confrontation or running.
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“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please don’t. Please, please, stop, please,” Bitikofer is heard saying.
The dispatcher heard “tapping sounds,” then the line appeared to disconnect. Bitikofer didn’t answer a return call.
The wounded man, then 35, called 911, reporting “shots fired.” One person in his car was dead, he said.
The man appeared to be struggling to breathe.
Bitikofer was “shot by her ex,” he said. “Tell my kids I love them and I’m sorry.”
He needed water, he said. He said he was shot in the face, left leg and abdomen. He was found along Mississippi Street and partly in the roadway, according to the affidavit.
The dispatcher overheard bystanders rushing to help him before the call disconnected.
Bitikofer’s relative said she and McIntyre had a “tumultuous” relationship and had broken up a few months earlier. He showed “unannounced” on Mother’s Day to Bitikofer’s mother’s house trying to “reconcile,” the relative said.
Forensic Pathologist Dr. Zhuo Wang said Bitikofer was fatally shot from 2-3 feet away in the right neck, exiting through her cheek.
The case is before Judge Natalie Bokota. Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar is also assigned.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.