Teen to testify against co-defendants
Youngest of three charged in 2019 death of Portage woman
The youngest of three Gary teens charged in the November 2019 death of a Portage woman admitted his role in the crimes in court Thursday during a hearing on a plea agreement that calls for him to testify against his two co-defendants.
Roderick Silas, now 16 and 15 at the time of Adriana Saucedo’s shooting death, appeared before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer and confirmed under questioning by Bob Harper, his public defender, that he arranged to sell Saucedo an iPhone and marijuana, then talked with his co-defendants about robbing her instead.
The proposed agreement calls for Silas, who was waived to adult court on Sept. 30, to plead guilty to a county of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 2 felony with a sentence of 10 to 30 years, and a sentencing enhancement for the use of a firearm while committing a felony, which would add five to 20 years to his sentence.
Felony counts of aiding, inducing or causing a murder and murder in the perpetration of a robbery would be dismissed.
Saucedo, 27, of the 6200 block of Kathryn Court, was shot to death Nov. 19, 2019, in a parking lot blocks from her home. According to court records, she discussed purchasing an iPhone from Silas on Facebook before the conversation turned to a marijuana buy.
Silas and two co-defendants, 18-year-old Jonathan Brown and 17-year-old Shaun Thompson — who were 17 and 16, respectively, at the time of the crimes — allegedly robbed Saucedo before Thompson shot her and the trio dumped her body at an abandoned elementary school in Gary.
As part of the plea, Silas agreed to waive his right to be sentenced within 30 days so that he could cooperate with the prosecutor’s office in the cases involving Brown and Thompson. Brown’s attorney has said in court that he expects to come to a non-trial resolution in his client’s case. Thompson’s trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 1. Those cases also are in DeBoer’s courtroom.
DeBoer set Silas’ sentencing hearing for 9 a . m. on March 18 and said she would take the plea under advisement until then “because you’ve got work to do before this can go forward, correct?”
“Ye s , y o u r h o n o r,” said Silas, who remains in custody at the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center.
Silas agreed to sell Saucedo marijuana for $100 and an iPhone for $80, though he didn’t have any marijuana, according to court docume n t s filed Thursday. He discussed with Thompson and Brown “that he had a ‘play’ which meant instead of selling anything to Adriana Saucedo, they would rob her of the money she had.”
Silas stole the Pontiac Grand Am that he drove to Saucedo’s home with the other defendants, and they had a stolen firearm, obtained from Thompson’s family member.
Saucedo got in the back seat with Thompson and gave Silas $20 to pay for gas at a nearby gas station.
“On the return trip from the gas station, (Silas) intentionally drove past Adriana Saucedo’s house and turned around in the parking lot of the Frontier building, a business located at 2059 Crisman Rd, at which time the robbery was supposed to occur, after which Adriana Saucedo was going to be left in the parking lot,” documents state. “Shaun Thompson pointed the firearm at Adriana Saucedo and shot her.”
They then drove to the abandoned Horace Norton Elementary School, 1356 Harrison Blvd., the three teens carried Saucedo’s body to the school entrance and Thompson and Brown carried her body into the school.
The teens divided the money taken from Saucedo after she was shot and also took her cellphone, removing the SIM card, and then “went to several fast food restaurants and purchased food in Gary before going to Jonathan Brown’s girlfriend’s apartment,” documents state.
On Nov. 21, 2019, Thompson contacted Silas, according to the documents, and told him he had been in a police pursuit in Lake County and had crashed the car used in the robbery and shooting. He also told Silas that during a foot pursuit with police, he threw the weapon into a wooded area and needed Silas to go look for it, which he didn’t do before police found it and took custody of it.
During Silas’ waiver hearing, Portage police Detective Nicole Heuberger, who investigated the case, credited Silas with helping authorities recover the gun more quickly and helping them locate Saucedo’s body at the school in Gary. Heuberger also said then it was her belief that while all three teens planned to rob Saucedo, Silas and Brown did not intend to shoot her.