‘Paranoid’ homeowner had reported ‘suspicious activity’ on two occasions before a house cleaner was fatally shot

Before a house cleaner was mistaken for an intruder and allegedly fatally shot by an Indiana homeowner, police had previously visited that residence twice for “reports of suspicious activity” that turned out to be false, authorities said Wednesday.

Curt Andersen, 62, was arrested Monday and booked on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 5 slaying of Maria Florinda Rios Perez, 32, a Guatemalan immigrant fatally shot outside his front door.

Andersen and his wife had lived in Whitestown, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis, for about four years, officials said.

Local officers had “responded to two calls for service at this residence — one in 2023 and one in 2024” with both “related to reports of suspicious activity,” Whitestown Police Capt. John Jurkash said in a statement to NBC News.

And “in each case, officers determined there was no criminal activity afoot,” Jurkash added.

Andersen has told police he feared that an intruder was breaking in when the deadly shooting occurred.

It turned out that the 4-foot-11 Rios Perez and her husband were working as house cleaners, hired to spiffy up a model home in the neighborhood when they mistakenly tried to enter Andersen’s residence on Maize Lane.

Maria Florinda Rios Pérez de Velásquez.via WTHR

When Andersen’s former neighbor Brittany Barker first heard of this fatal shooting near her previous residence, the 38-year-old said she fearfully suspected who might’ve pulled the trigger.

“He was very paranoid about the world,” Barker said.

Andersen lived his life in fear of crime and he and his young wife rarely socialized, Barker said.

“They didn’t really go outside, they didn’t do anything,” she said.

“And I would always tell him, ‘Crime happens everywhere. You can step outside your door. Your wife can come outside.’ I was always trying to conflict with his beliefs of the world (about) the danger and the crime that was going on. I tried to tell him otherwise. We had lots of conversations about that.”

While she said Andersen’s alleged fear of crime made him a bit of a social outcast on Maize Lane, Barker added she always spoke well of her neighbor.

“People would say, ‘Oh, I don’t know that guy, he’s weird.’ And I would say, ‘He’s harmless. He’s a harmless soul,’ ” said Barker, who still resides in suburban Indianapolis but moved away from Maize Lane about two years ago. “Yes, he’s quirky but I always described him as just a harmless soul.”

In interviews with police after the shooting, Andersen told detectives “that he had thought about how to plan for someone breaking into his home and where to keep him and his wife safe,” according to the Boone County probable cause affidavit filed against him.

Andersen had even designated a “safe room” in his house in case intruders got inside, the complaint said.

Sayda Velázquez, the eldest daughter of Maria Florinda Rios Pérez de Velásquez, mourns over the casket of her mother Nov. 9 at Iglesia “Voz De Cristo Al Mundo“ in Indianapolis.Grace Hollars / IndyStar / USA TODAY Network

And as the husband-and-wife housecleaners fiddled with his front door on the morning of Nov. 5, Andersen told police that “hearing this terrified him that they were going to beat him,” police said.

The defendant is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge Friday morning.

Andersen enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 1, 1981, and retired July 31, 2007, as a reserve Nurse Corps officer, according to service records.

He spent 4 ½ years stationed in Okinawa and Yokosuka, Japan, between late 2002 and mid-2007.

He was a decorated pistol sharpshooter and a four-time overseas service ribbon recipient.

Andersen’s attorney declined comment on the case Wednesday and a representative for Rios Perez’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The family previously told NBC News that Rios Perez was a mother of four, the oldest of whom is 17, while the youngest is 11 months old.

Rios Perez’s brother said the family was calling for justice and for the man responsible to be charged.

“It’s not possible that he is free, meanwhile, the children are suffering,” her husband, Mauricio Velásquez, told Telemundo.“Seeing my wife in my arms, already lifeless, covered in blood, I felt like they tore everything from me.”