Woman arrested for death of man in Barton Towers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman was arrested in connection to the murder of a man in the Barton Towers apartments on Sept. 25.

During a welfare check, Forest Hill Jr., 65, was found in a bloody apartment, still clutching money in his hand, dead from multiple stab wounds, according to court documents.

Tationa Sims, 30, was charged Wednesday with the involuntary manslaughter of Hill in Marion Superior Court 31.

Sims told police she was homeless when she met Hill. She would come and go from Hill’s apartment for a sexual relationship, but it ended after two weeks.

Leading up to Hill’s death, security footage showed Hill entering his apartment with Sims. She left the apartment, disposing of a knife.

Sims claims that Hill became more aggressive and was taking drugs when “he put his hands on me and started kicking me and taking control like he was going to hurt me, and I stabbed him.”

After Sims left, she told police she called her mom, threw the knife away, and ran into Hill’s friend in the lobby of the apartments. Instead of calling for help, Sims “told him what happened and I told him to go help him, that’s it.”

Sims said that Hill egged her on in the stabbing, “like he was just wanting me to do something to him,” later claiming that he would talk about suicidal ideation with her.

Sims told police that she did not know that Hill had died from his injuries.

Detectives got a screenshot of a text message as an anonymous tip, sent by someone texting with Sims. The anonymous tip claimed that Sims sent the text. She had shared a link to the story of Hill’s death, commenting “self-defense I had too (with a smiling emoji).”

Hill had just been released from prison. His family told News 8 on Sept. 26 that he had wanted to make a new life for himself.