Christopher Daniel Mize, 36, Indianapolis
HANCOCK COUNTY — On March 1, officials from the Greenfield Police Department and Hancock County Sheriff’s Department responded to four different drug overdoses in the county, they said.
The incidents led law enforcement on a multi-jurisdiction investigation over the course of several weeks with the work resulting in five people being linked to two of the near deaths as well as other serious felony drug crimes, reports state.
Christopher Daniel Mize, 36, Indianapolis; Amanda Jane Zurwell, 46, Indianapolis; James Edward Shearer, 37, Greenfield; Diana Marie Holbrook, 44, Greenfield; and Mary Elizabeth Helsley, 45, Greenfield, are named as co-defendants in a lengthy probable cause affidavit filed in Hancock County Superior Court 1 by Prosecutor Brent Eaton late Thursday.
“We had great cooperation between our office, local law enforcement and with officials outside of the county,” Eaton said. “It’s that type of collaboration that is necessary for us to bring the charges.”
Mize, Zurwell, Shearer and Holbrook are all inmates in the county jail while Helsley has yet to be arrested. Officials have issued a warrant for her arrest.
Between text messages, phone calls, statements, cash app records, and GPS locations, officials believe all parties were involved with illegal drug activity involving methamphetamine and fentanyl in the county.
Chief Brian Hartman of the GPD said his officers worked long hours, nights and weekends connecting the dots and investigating the group.
“The investigators had a willingness to want to take this case further,” Hartman said. “They could have stopped at the first arrests, but they didn’t. They tied it all together.”
Mize, Zurwell and Holbrook were arrested in late April while Shearer was arrested March 4 on other felony drug crimes, including dealing 36 grams of methamphetamine that officials now believe were connected to the group’s activities.
Mize, Zurwell, Holbrook and Helsley are all facing seven different crimes each, including four different Level 2 felony charges of manufacturing and dealing illegal drugs. Shearer is facing nine crimes in all, including six different Level 2 felony charges of manufacturing and dealing drugs. The most serious charges against the five, the Level 2 felony crimes, carry up to 30 years in prison.
According to a probable cause affidavit, GPD officials were called to West Green Meadows Drive on March 1 where they found a male who needed to be administered Narcan. Officials located a syringe and baggies containing crystal rock substance that field tested as methamphetamine and fentanyl.
In a later interview at the jail, the man told officials he bought the drugs from Shearer and Helsley, the affidavit said. Officials were also able to find evidence of drug transactions on the man’s cell phone, they noted.
On the same night, Sheriff’s officials were called to County Road North 150W, where a female later identified as Helsley was on the floor unconscious, the affidavit said. Holbrook was also at the scene and had already administered Narcan, the report stated.
The two incidents led law enforcement, including the prosecutor’s office, to delve into a much deeper issue than drug addiction.
Shearer, who was picked up by a GPD official in early March for drug crimes, was already in hot water when a GPD officer found a syringe, scales and drugs inside a bag in his truck that field tested as methamphetamine and fentanyl.
His name became linked to the others as officials conducted a deeper investigation into the overdose situtations, the affidavit said.
Officials interviewed Helsley on March 10 about her overdose on March 1, and she told officials she and Holbrook had ingested illegal drugs and admitted to selling drugs to the man officials saved on March 1, the affidavit said. Information was also obtained on Mize and Zurwell who officials learned were “dealing” to multiple people in the county out of Marion County, the affidavit said.
Officials were able to find information on Helsley’s cell phone indicating illegal drug activity including her selling illegal drugs, the affidavit said.
Due to the connection discovered to Shearer, officials started monitoring his phone calls from the county jail, the affidavit said. They noticed several inmates were contacting Holbrook, who officials said in the report supplied Shearer and Helsley with illegal drugs.
In one of the phone calls between Shearer and Holbrook, he said she (Helsley) is “out of a lot of money,” and that Helsley was the connection to the money, the affidavit said. After obtaining a search warrant for Holbrook’s cell phone, coupled with information received in the jail calls, the money and drug trail eventually led officials to Mize and Zurwell, “the Indianapolis drug connection,” the report stated.
Officials caught another break when during a traffic stop in late March they found illegal drugs and the person arrested told officials they had knowledge of Mize and Zurwell completing illegal drug deals from an address in Marion County, in the 6000 block of East Washington Street, the affidavit said.
A later interview in mid-April with the person, who was now in the county jail, further identified Mize as the “plug,” a slang word used for dealer of narcotic drugs, the affidavit said.
The person also informed officials they had witnessed multiple subjects on site wearing black vests with the “Outlaw” insignia, and Mize had acknowledge being associated with the Outlaws group, the report stated.
Law enforcement surveyed the address where Mize and Zurwell lived for seven days and noted a total of 56 visits with 33 of the visits being five minutes or less, the report stated.
That coupled with the fact the two never left the property and other information, local officials had enough probable cause to get a search warrant for the residence.
Officials from Homeland Security and the Hancock County Joint Tactical Team executed a search on the address and arrested the Mize and Zurwell April 25. After the arrest Mize informed officials he had a storage unit containing illegal drugs while Zurwell told officials she was indeed friends with Helsley.
During the search of the property and storage unit officials found drug paraphernalia, electronic devices, cash, a handgun, .5 grams of fentanyl, 9 grams of methamphetamine, other illegal drugs, paraphernalia, scales and plastic baggies, the affidavit said.
The four defendants in custody were slated to make their initial appearance in court this week. Helsley remained at large at print deadline late Monday.
