Indiana Pastor Engaged 2 Years After Pregnant Wife Killed In Home Invasion

Indianapolis pastor Davey Blackburn, whose pregnant wife was killed in a home invasion, is engaged – days before the second anniversary of Amanda Blackburn‘s death.

The case against three men charged in the brutal 2015 killings has not yet been been adjudicated. Blackburn announced the pending wedding bells in a lengthy blog post on Tuesday morning.

He says he had apprehensions dating at first because he’s easily recognized by people who know his family’s story. He wrote in the blog, “I couldn’t be seen out in public with a girl! Everywhere I went in the city I’d regularly get stopped by people who knew my story. What would people say about the pastor who lost his wife a year ago to murder and was going out on the town with random girls?”

In fact, he says he even spoke with the prosecutor in May when the trial for the men accused of murdering Amanda was delayed. Blackburn says he wanted to make sure his relationship status wouldn’t affect the case. The prosecutor told him, “You have to do your best to move forward with your life because you never know when this trial will actually happen.”

Blackburn writes he still had some “hesitation and apprehension,” but their hearts were quickly melding together. “The connection I felt with this girl seemed to outweigh the sadness I felt with the absence of Amanda.”

So on Wednesday, November 8 he proposed to Kristi Monroy, and they are going to get married next month. “We can’t wait to celebrate God’s redemption in our story!” Blackburn wrote.

October, 2017, a plea agreement was accepted for 23-year-old Jalen Watson, the Indianapolis man initially charged in Blackburn’s murder. The deal drops murder charges in exchange for Watson’s testimony against, co-defendant, Larry Jo Taylor, 18, who was also taken into custody in connection with Blackburn’s apparently “random killing” during a violent 2015 crime spree.

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