NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – A January 7, 2019 sentencing date has been set for a Columbia City woman accused of killing her ex-husband in North Manchester in May, 2017. The woman, Tiffany Chapman-Lane, 32, had originally entered a not guilty plea. On October 22, 2018 she changed it to guilty on the murder and attempted murder charges. Wabash County Circuit Court Judge Robert McCallen III will take the new guilty plea under advisement and will render a decision at 3pm on that day.
She is charged with the May 25, 2017 shooting death of her ex-husband, Jacob Chapman, and the wounding of his current wife, Sarah Chapman, in their North Manchester driveway.
Chapman-Lane is charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and carrying a handgun without a license. She is currently being held without bond.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by North Manchester Police Det. Randy Miller, Chapman-Lane contacted her ex-husband to inform him she had some paperwork for him.
Chapman contacted NM Police, thinking that her delivering the paperwork would violate a protective order the pair had, the affidavit continued. NM Police were en route to the scene when Chapman-Lane gave her ex-husband the paperwork.
Mrs. Chapman then informed Chapman-Lane that the police were coming to the scene, Miller wrote. It was then that she allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired three or four shots.
Chapman fell to the ground and Mrs. Chapman grabbed Chapman-Lane, the paperwork continued Mrs. Chapman then turned her attention to her husband, unaware that she, too, had been shot.
Chapman-Lane began to leave, then allegedly turned back and shot Chapman several more times before leaving, according to the paperwork.
Deputy Cody Gibson, in another probable cause affidavit, wrote that he was at the North Manchester Police Station when Chapman-Lane drove up and turned herself in. After advising police the gun was in the car, she declined to speak with police until she had first talked with a lawyer.
Three of the charges against Chapman-Lane are felonies, while the gun charge is a misdemeanor. If McCallen accepts the guilty plea, the other two charges would be dropped.