SUMMIT COUNTY – Could a drug bust in Utah help solve a murder in Indianapolis?
A man accused of transporting marijuana through Summit County may have left a key piece of evidence to a killing in Indiana on his cell phone.
Christopher Goff was pulled over for a traffic stop on I-80, and, according to a warrant affidavit, he was carrying 22 pounds of marijuana in two different duffle bags.
However, while searching through Goff’s cell phone, police made a grisly discovery. The affidavit says officers found a picture of a woman who appeared to have been shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. The glass appears to have been broken from the outside, and blood was covering part of her torso. Also, investigators have reason to believe the picture was taken before police arrived.
It says, “Neither indications of police nor emergency medical service vehicle lights, cones, flares, or caution tape were observed in the photograph and the quality and clarity of the photograph indicate the individual who took the photograph was at the scene prior to the response of emergency personnel, and standing near the presumed deceased individual.”
Along with the picture, the affidavit states Goff may have texted himself the phrase, “Indy’s third homicide victim of the year has been identified as 19 year old Svitlana Novotney.”
When investigators conducted a Google search of that name, they found an article about a woman who was found murdered in a running car at an Indianapolis apartment complex.
The data on the phone shows the picture was taken close to the time police believe Novotney was shot.
Our calls to Indianapolis Police have not been returned. Goff was booked into the Summit County Jail on drug distribution charges.