A man told police his wife shot herself; now he's charged with her murder

An Indianapolis man has been charged with murder after he told police his estranged wife died by suicide.

Derrick Mann, 23, was charged with murder late last month in connection to the Jan. 24 shooting of his wife, Sinthia Costa, in his home in the 100 block of North Euclid Avenue.

According to court documents, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers were called to the home just before 3 p.m., where they found Mann standing over Costa's body, a handgun within arm's reach.

When officers escorted Mann downstairs and out of the home, he became agitated, court documents say, asking officers: "Is suicide a crime now?"

Mann told police that he and Costa, who lived in Maryland, had argued several times since she arrived in Indianapolis about 10 days before. Costa, he said according to court documents, had a history of depression.

The couple were on the bed, he said, but he was refusing to talk to her. That's when she stood up, he told police, and grabbed his .40 caliber handgun and shot herself in the forehead, according to court documents.

When asked, he couldn't specify exactly where she placed the gun before firing, but pointed to the right side of his forehead.

A witness told police she didn't overhear any arguing between the couple before hearing a loud boom, according to court documents, and a second boom that could have been a person falling.

Despite Mann's insistence that Costa had killed herself in their bedroom, investigators didn't believe her wounds were consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot. An autopsy later confirmed the entrance wound was on the back of her head — not her forehead.

On Jan. 25, police again asked Mann where she placed the gun on her forehead, and he was unable to specify an exact location, according to court documents. When confronted with the evidence that she was shot in the back of the head, Mann said that was "impossible."

In an interview with police two days later, Costa's father told investigators he believed she was going to return to his home after visiting Mann in Indianapolis. There had been concerns, according to court documents, that Mann was too controlling, but she was reluctant to answer questions about their relationship when asked.

When she left Maryland on Jan. 13 to visit Mann, her father said according to court documents, she told him "everyone deserved a second chance."

Mann is set to appear in court for a pre-trial conference in March.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.