Husband arrested in wife's death had been charged with domestic violence before

Show Caption Hide Caption Woman shot, killed on Eastside A woman was shot and killed on Indianapolis' Eastside late Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. Police said two children inside the home during the shooting were unharmed.

Penny Jones's aunt knew she argued with her husband, like any married couple.

Yet any deeper marital problems remained hidden from the 28-year-old woman's family, her aunt, Doris Byrd, said.

Jones, perhaps, suffered in silence.

Byrd was stunned when she learned her niece was shot and killed Monday night while her two young sons slept in her Eastside home in the 3300 block of North Chester Avenue.

"My immediate thought was that someone was lying," Byrd said softly, her voice wavering.

With her fatal shooting, Jones has become the 140th victim of criminal homicide in Indianapolis this year, five higher than the 135 recorded last year. It also ties the recent high of 140 criminal homicides tallied in 2006, a year considered one of the city's deadliest.

Detectives on Tuesday arrested Jones's husband, Dorian Barker, 31, on suspicion of murder in connection with the death.

"As a husband and wife, I'm sure they had their issues which led to this, but this is the first I've ever known them to fight," Byrd said, acknowledging they had argued from time to time.

Byrd, though, said she didn't know much about her niece's husband. The two had only been married since July.

Barker has been arrested twice in the past on charges of domestic violence, but in both cases, all counts were dismissed.

Prosecutors in 2007 charged Barker with strangulation, battery and domestic battery, but later dismissed the counts. In 2012, prosecutors charged Barker with strangulation, intimidation, two counts of battery and two counts of domestic battery. Those charges were also dismissed.

Byrd has two sons, ages 5 and 11, from a previous relationship. They were asleep when their mother was killed, Byrd said. They are physically unharmed, she said.

Emergency dispatchers received multiple calls around 10:15 p.m. Monday.

When officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's North District arrived, they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound, police said.

Child Protective Services responded to the home.

Officers detained Barker at the home and later transported him Downtown to the homicide office for questioning, police said.

He was booked in jail Tuesday on suspicion of murder.

To support her family, Jones drove an IndyGo bus and worked as a home health aide with the elderly.

"She was a very likable person," Byrd said. "I'm not saying that because she's mine. That's just how she was."

Byrd will care for the two young boys for now, she said.

Call Star reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAdams317.