An Indiana homeowner has been charged with voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting a house cleaner who mistakenly went to his home, authorities said Monday.
According to The Associated Press, the case has raised questions about the limits of stand-your-ground laws.
Curt Andersen, 62, faces 10 to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted. He was being held in Boone County Jail pending an initial court hearing.
Police said Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32, was found dead on the front porch of Andersen’s Whitestown home, a suburb of Indianapolis, on Nov. 5. Rios, a Guatemalan immigrant, was part of a cleaning crew that arrived at the wrong address just before 7 a.m.
Authorities allege Andersen fired a single shot through the front door about a minute after hearing someone attempting to unlock it.
Rios’ husband told the media he was with her on the porch and didn’t realize she had been shot until she fell back into his arms, bleeding. Her brother described her as a mother of four on a fundraising page.
Indiana’s stand-your-ground law allows homeowners to use deadly force if they reasonably believe someone is unlawfully entering their home.
However, police said there is no evidence that Rios attempted to enter the house before she was shot.
Andersen’s attorney, Guy Relford, said his client had reason to believe he was acting in self-defense.
“Mr. Andersen’s actions must be evaluated based on the circumstances as he perceived them,” Relford said in a statement on X.
Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said Monday that the stand-your-ground protections do not apply because Andersen lacked enough information to reasonably justify using deadly force. He said the prosecution will argue Andersen could not have reasonably believed deadly force was necessary.
According to the probable cause statement, Andersen told investigators he and his wife were asleep upstairs when he heard “commotion at the door.”
Fearing a break-in, he loaded his gun and fired one shot without announcing himself. Investigators found no evidence of forced entry, damage to the door, or contact with the latch.
Rios’ husband said she was simply trying to unlock the door with her cleaning company keys, and neither she nor her colleague had knocked, banged, or used force to enter the home.
Experts say the case is unusual, highlighting the challenge of applying stand-your-ground laws when someone is on private property for legitimate reasons.
Indiana University law professor Jody Madeira said Andersen’s fear does not justify deadly force.
“Trying to insert a key into a lock or rattling a doorknob isn’t a reasonable justification for firing a shot,” she said.
The case echoes incidents in other states where homeowners shot individuals who arrived at the wrong address, raising national debates over self-defense and gun laws.
