Maria Florinda Ríos Pérez, 32, was killed on November 5, 2025, after she and her husband arrived at the wrong address in Whitestown, Indiana while working as part of a cleaning crew. The couple stood on the home’s front porch; the homeowner, Curt Andersen, said he was awakened by the sound of someone trying to unlock his door and, from the top of his stairs, fired one round through the closed, locked front door without issuing a verbal warning. The bullet struck Ríos Pérez in the head; she was pronounced dead and the Boone County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide.

Police were called around 7 a.m. with a report of a possible home invasion but found that she and her husband had not entered the house. The Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department submitted the investigation to the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office, and Andersen was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter. The prosecutor stated they did not believe Indiana’s stand your ground law applied, alleging Andersen lacked a reasonable belief deadly force was necessary.

Family and friends held vigils and fundraisers to support her husband and their four children and to return her body to Guatemala for burial. If anyone has information about the events that morning or knew Maria, please share what you know.