2 arrested in Flora dating app murder case

FLORA, Ind. (WISH) — A 55-year-old Lafayette man was beaten to death with a baseball bat after arranging a meeting with a woman on a social media app, according to court documents.

Early Wednesday morning, a Flora couple awoke to find Willie Smith, Jr., unresponsive on their living room couch, suffering from head trauma. Court documents do not state how Smith ended up there.

Smith was then transported to IU Hospital in Lafayette, where he later died of his injuries.

Tyrone Leftridge, 22, of Lafayette is being charged in Carroll County with robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, aggravated battery and murder. Shianne Brooks-Brown, 24, of Delphi has also been arrested on preliminary charges of murder and robbery.

According to police, Leftridge used Brooks-Brown’s phone to arrange a meeting with Smith via the dating app MeetMe. Leftridge explained that the arrangement was for Smith to pay $80 in exchange for sex, to which Brooks-Brown objected.

Upon meeting Smith Wednesday morning, Brooks-Brown told him that she did not intend to have sex. According to authorities, Brooks-Brown stated that Smith did not touch her.

Leftridge, who was hiding behind a nearby garage, then ran toward Smith, attacking him with a baseball bat and robbing him. Leftridge claimed that Smith wielded a knife, but Brooks-Brown said she never saw any weapons.

The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to results from an autopsy.

Leftridge is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a bond hearing, and Brooks-Brown’s initial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.