On a summer night in 1993, 66-year-old Francis Benefiel and his 65-year-old wife, Helen, were killed during a domestic dispute at their Marion County, Indiana, home. Their granddaughter, Candice Benefiel, had been staying there with her one-year-old child. Charles E. Barker, Candice’s former boyfriend, had been watching the house for hours before forcing his way inside.

A struggle broke out between Barker and Candice; Francis intervened and was shot in the heart after jumping onto Barker’s back. Barker then broke down a bathroom door where Helen was hiding in a closet with the child and shot her in the head. Barker abducted Candice and the infant, took them first to his ex-wife’s home and then fled to Tennessee, where he was captured.

At trial Barker argued he had wanted only to see his daughter and that Francis was shot in self-defense and Helen accidentally. A jury convicted him of two counts of murder plus kidnapping, confinement and burglary. He was sentenced to death in 1996; that sentence was later vacated. In December 2005 Barker pleaded guilty to the charges and received life without parole, with consecutive terms for the other felonies.

Does anyone have memories of the Benefiel family or details about the case that could add context to what happened that night?