Ohio researcher on adolescent violence killed in home shooting linked to daughter’s plot

Tamela Dutcher, a 55-year-old physician known for her research on homicidal adolescents, was shot dead in her Delaware County, Ohio home on Aug. 14 when two men, Christian Evans, 20, and Dajameous Payne, 21, broke in and fired a single bullet that hit her in the face. The assault occurred after her 18-year-old daughter, Bryanna Dutcher, allegedly plotted the killing following a dispute over household chores and a secret relationship with Evans.

Text messages between Bryanna and Evans reveal the planning of a simultaneous attack on both parents, though only the mother was hit. Following the incident, Bryanna is reported to have provided false statements to police, hindering the investigation. Evans and Payne have been charged with aggravated murder, and Bryanna faces both aggravated murder and obstruction of justice charges. All three remain detained in the Delaware County Jail, and Evans’s attorney has requested a competency evaluation.