Teenager charged in flight attendant's death

CROWN POINT, Ind. - A teenager was charged Friday with murder in the slaying of a United Airlines flight attendant whose body was found wrapped in plastic bags in the trunk of her car in a wooded area in Gary, Ind.

Damarius Wren, 18, of Merrillville, is charged with murder in the death of 54-year-old DeCarol Deloney-Cain, 54, of Crown Point. Court records show Wren was being held at the Lake County Jail without bail and did not indicate whether he has hired an attorney. No date has been set for a hearing.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Deloney-Cain's daughter, Alyssa Barrett, told police Wren was her boyfriend and that he had planned to rob her mother in early July because he knew that's when she was paid. She said it never happened, though, because her mother was killed.

An autopsy determined Deloney-Cain died from blunt force trauma to her head and multiple stab wounds to her chest. Her body was found Monday. Lake County Deputy Coroner Geroge Deliopoulos said the 54-year-old was positively identified through serial numbers on her breast implants.

Barrett told police that her mother didn't know Wren was at the house when she arrived home on July 3. Barrett told police Wren was hiding from Deloney-Cain, then put a pillow case over her head and began slamming her head on the basement stairs. Barrett said he then got a knife from the kitchen and began stabbing Deloney-Cain, according to the affidavit.

She told police that two of Wren's friends then helped him wrap the body in plastic and drive the body in her mother's car to Gary.

Police said Wren told them he lost control and attacked Deloney-Cain, causing her death.