UPDATE (1/5/2024): Daquan Mathews was sentenced to 10 years in prison with three years suspended to probation.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police have arrested a man on kidnapping and attempted murder charges for his role in a series of incidents over the weekend where a woman was missing for hours.
Daquan Mathews, 27, of Indianapolis was arrested Sunday after police said he used a gun to kidnap his ex-girlfriend from her brother’s car, resulting in a citywide missing persons alert being issued regarding her disappearance.
The incident began early in the morning when 24-year-old Rashonda Banks was sitting inside her brother’s car chatting with him, according to a police report.
In an interview with IMPD around 7 a.m., Banks’ brother, who was “visibly shaken”, told officers that a Black man with dreadlocks had approached his parked car with a handgun pointed at him. The suspect, IMPD said, was allegedly driving a gold Chevrolet Malibu or Impala.
Banks’ brother told police he got out of the car and heard gunshots fired in his direction as he ran away from the man. When he returned to the car, the armed man, his car and Banks were gone.
The missing Banks was subsequently filed as a missing person by IMPD and officers contacted her mother. In an interview, her mom told officers that she believed the suspect could be Banks’ ex-boyfriend whose name was Daquan. The mother also said Daquan was known to frequent hotels on Shadeland Avenue.
IMPD detectives responded to the parking lot where Banks was abducted and found four 9mm shell casings near her brother’s car. Banks’ cell phone was left inside the car.
Banks’ brother logged into her Facebook account on her phone and pulled up an account named “Quan Dreadhead Freeaway” for officers, stating the account belonged to Banks’ ex-boyfriend.
A search of the account showed it was associated with the name Daquan Mathews. A check of the IMPD database showed Mathews had a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu registered in his name.
IMPD detectives began patrolling around hotels on N. Shadeland Avenue searching for the vehicle. It was around this time that a missing persons alert was filed for Banks.
While on patrol of the area, an IMPD officer spotted a beige car similar to Mathews’ parked at the Marathon gas station in the 3000 block of Shadeland. The officer confirmed the car’s license plate matched the one registered to Mathews and called for backup.
Multiple IMPD cars arrived at the gas station and began surrounding Mathews’ car, which was parked at pump 3. However, officers could not tell if anyone was inside due to a heavy window tint.
Eventually, officers saw a Black male wearing black pants and a black hoodie walk out of the gas station and start pumping gas from pump 3. As officers approached the man, later confirmed to be Mathews, he refused police orders and started walking toward the car door with his hands inside his hoodie pocket.
An IMPD report said officers wanted to avoid Mathews getting inside the car, so they ordered him to get on the ground or else they would shoot. At this point, officers said Mathews complied.
“Daquan got on the ground right by the driver side door of his vehicle and took a black handgun with and (sic) extended magazine out of his hoodie and threw it under his vehicle,” IMPD’s arrest report reads.
Officers said Mathews then tried to get up and take off running, but that he fell to the ground again after slipping in some water on the asphalt. Officers then took him into custody.
Banks, IMPD said, was sitting in the passenger seat of Mathews’ car during the arrest. She was eventually able to escape the car and get help from officers, IMPD said. She was then checked and cleared by medics on scene.
A subsequent interview with Banks corroborated the earlier testimony of her brother, confirming to IMPD that her ex-boyfriend named Quan used a handgun to abduct her from her brother’s car. She also confirmed that Quan was the same man officers had arrested at the gas station, IMPD said.
Banks told officers that after Mathews kidnapped her, he drove her to the 3500 block of Birchwood Avenue. There, Banks told police that Mathews hit her “at least 12 times” in the head with his handgun and continued to assault her.
“At one point Quan jumped on top of Rashonda in the passenger seat and began strangling her. Rashonda sated (sic) she could not breath (sic) and she felt like she was fading out of consciousness,” IMPD arresting officers wrote.
Banks told IMPD that Mathews was angry at her for not wanting to be with him and that he kept asking her who she had been seeing. Police said Mathews threatened to kill Banks multiple times and that he pointed his handgun at her when she tried to escape the car.
The kidnapped woman told police that she had met the suspect on Facebook and that they had been seeing each other on and off since August of last year.
Mathews, IMPD said, told officers he did not want to be interviewed.
While being booked into jail, it was discovered that Mathews had prior felony convictions including a conviction for carrying a handgun without a license. He was subsequently booked on the following charges:
- Attempted murder
- Criminal confinement
- Criminal recklessness
- Attempted robbery, and
- Unlawful carrying of a handgun due to priors.
Mathews is being held at Marion County Jail with a bond of $100,000.