On December 20, 2025, Monica E. Fry, 48, of Garrett, was shot and killed inside a home in the 900 block of Ensley Avenue in Auburn during an argument with 74-year-old Lonnie Cox, a man she had been dating. Fry was pronounced dead at the scene; the shooting was not discovered until the following morning when Cox surrendered at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and told investigators he had killed a woman during an altercation the previous day.

Officers responded to the Ensley Avenue residence and found Fry’s body with apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators from the Auburn Police Department, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, and the Indiana State Police opened a homicide investigation. Cox told detectives about the domestic dispute and said he had told a family member, who later drove him to surrender.

Cox was arrested and preliminarily charged with murder and held without bond at the DeKalb County Jail. An initial court appearance in DeKalb County Superior Court II was held and a further hearing was scheduled for February 2026 as prosecutors considered additional charges.

Did anyone in the Auburn or Garrett area have contact with Monica in the days before December 20, 2025, or have information about her relationship with Lonnie Cox?