Just days after a mother of four ejected her husband from their home and secured a restraining order, he was charged with fatally shooting her, following frantic 911 calls from their children.
Cecil Maines, 47, allegedly killed his 44-year-old wife, Jerry Maines, in front of their terrified kids—ages 19, 17, 14, and 10—as the incident unfolded on December 28 at their home in Indianapolis, according to police.
Dispatchers received several urgent calls from the children, with one young man desperately stating, “My father is shooting my mother,” and adding, “I can’t live without my mother.”
Another call informed authorities, “My father shot my mother twice… shot her in the house and in the driveway.”
When police arrived, they found the victim in the driveway, but she later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital after being shot twice in the chest.
Court documents suggest that the tragic events began when Jerry discovered her husband’s infidelity and intended to end their relationship.
On Christmas Day, she filed for a protective order following an alleged assault with kitchen shears the previous night, during which he threatened her life multiple times.
Days after she kicked him out of her parents’ home, he reportedly broke in, retrieved a locked firearm, and shot at her.
He fled the scene in a pickup truck but was soon captured during a traffic stop nearby.
“The facts of this case are devastating,” Marion County Attorney Ryan Mears shared in a statement. “As the legal process unfolds, our thoughts are with Jerry’s four children, who are facing an unimaginable tragedy and a difficult road ahead.”
Cecil Maines was charged with murder on Tuesday.
Jerry was remembered in her obituary as “the most devoted mother,” emphasizing her selflessness and love for her children.
It described her as someone who always prioritized her family and friends, willing to do anything for those she cared about.
