ANDERSON, Ind. (WRTV) — A Madison County jury found two Anderson teens, a 19-year-old and a 15-year-old, guilty of a February 2025 murder on Monday, prosecutors say.
The six-day trial concluded with verdicts on charges connected to 26-year-old Dayla Swain’s killing outside Sonny Ray’s bar, located on South Madison Avenue. Prosecutors said the shooting was an effort to silence a key witness in a separate felony murder case.
Investigators said the attack targeted Swain’s cousin, O’Terryon Johnson, who was expected to testify in a felony murder trial against a man, Donovan Harris, in February 2025. Johnson had fatally shot a man in self-defense during a robbery in November 2023. Prosecutors say Harris and the man he shot were both associates of the Mickey Cobra Nation gang, which investigators said has ties to Chicago.
15-year-old Rashawn Samuels, known as “Lil D,” was identified by a witness as the shooter on the north side of a nearby residence. At the time of the shooting, he had an active armed robbery warrant out of Kokomo. Jo’Majze Larry, known as “Biggie,” was 14-years-old at the time of the attack. His father reported him missing the day after the shooting. He is now 15-years-old.
Prosecutors introduced digital evidence, including Instagram and Snapchat exchanges, showing Samuels, Larry, and others planning the attack, surveilling Sonny Ray’s bar, discussing weapons, and working to avoid detection by cameras.
Samuel’s Snapchat location data tracked his movement to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the hours after the shooting, according to court documents.
Swain was struck by gunfire shortly after 3 a.m. outside Sonny Ray’s. Surveillance footage showed her retreating before being struck by a dark-colored Ford F150 as it fled south on Madison Avenue. Medical examiners ruled her death a homicide.
A booking photo of Samuels and Larry was not immediately available.
