Murder trial for Dunkelberg Road homicide: accidental or on purpose?
FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---It was a booze-soaked night, full of argument and accusation.
And then, a homicide.
When police were called to a Dunkelberg Road mobile home around 12:40 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2025, they found the victim alive, lying in a bathtub, naked with an entry and exit wound to the side.
Sajdah Abdur-Rabb, 50, was able to tell the officers she couldn’t breathe. She died later that day at a hospital.
The probable cause affidavit written by homicide detective Aaron Johnson said responding officers noted a black handgun on top of a towel in that bathroom and a shell casing on the bedroom floor leading to the bathroom.
Shell casings tend to drop where a gun is fired.
Why was she found naked in a tub? Because she was about to take a shower when she was shot, according to deputy prosecutor Tasha Lee, lead prosecutor in this week’s murder trial for Reginald Brooks, 55, the man accused of shooting Abdur-Rabb.
Lee is squaring off against the county’s chief public defender, William Lebrato, in a trial that could last through Friday.
The question is whether Brooks, who had his own room in the mobile home as did she, shot Abdur-Rabb on purpose or accidentally, according to court testimony.
Court documents say her son met police at the door with the statement “he shot my mom and there is a gun in the house.” He identified Brooks as his mother’s boyfriend, but said he didn’t know his name. They all knew him as “Drake.”
Brooks, at first, refused to leave the home. He then told police the two had been drinking and arguing and it went on in to the next day “because he didn’t wake her up for work.” He claimed “other lies” were told.
Video apparently shows the argument got physical. She slapped the gun down from his holster and ripped his shirt, he said, and someone, not sure who, chambered a round.
“I barely touched the trigger,” Brooks told police.
Tuesday morning it was time for voir dire, the French legal term for jury selection and a chance for prosecutors and defense attorneys to get to know prospective jurors, find out how they lean when it comes to things like murder charges.
Lee and her second, Ashley Skibinski, asked questions like ‘what do you think of guns?” They also asked about crime shows on television.
Lebrato and his second, Eric Simmons, wanted to know if the jurors would have a problem with autopsy photos.
“You’re going to see pictures of a woman deceased,” Lebrato said. He also wanted to know if they would judge the defendant if he didn’t take the stand.
Given the information in the mini-openings, would these prospective jurors say the defendant was innocent or guilty? Lebrato asked.
It was hard to pick up everything said because the acoustics are difficult and it’s all in how a voice carries. Generally, the lower the pitch, the more measured the speech, the easier it is to follow from the back of Courtroom 1.
Jury selection went relatively quickly. In three rounds, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on the magic number of 14 - 12 jurors and two alternatives, leaving about two more rounds of 12 people to go.
One of those jurors awaiting his turn was Allen Superior Court Judge David Zent who walked in just like everyone else and took a seat, book in hand, a sure sign of someone who likes to make the most of his time.
And even though he smiled as he left the courtroom after everyone was excused for lunch, Zent did say he was somewhat, kind of? maybe disappointed? to miss the chance to sit in the box.
The trial will continue Wednesday. Lee and Skibinski will have a third in deputy prosecutor Daylan Schurg. Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull is presiding.
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