A jury convicted a Merrillville man Friday in the death of his estranged girlfriend.
Dennis Jelks, 60, was found guilty of murder and a weapon enhancement in the death of Angela Carrier, 37, in Crown Point in January 2021. The jury deliberated for more than 4 hours.
His sentencing is January 29.
On January 26, 2021, Carrier went with her relatives to the Merrillville Menards to pick up her mail from Gilkes after the breakup. Once there, Gilkes claimed he didn’t have it. He convinced Carrier to leave with him around 1:35 p.m., and she was never seen alive again.
Her mother, Rose Jones, said the couple had a “toxic” relationship that was “violent all the time,” court filings show. Jones previously testified that she broke up some of their fights and got into a “physical altercation” with Gilks.
Texts leading up to the Menards meeting showed Carrier getting angry, saying Gilkes was delaying returning her mail. Her relatives testified that she needed mail from Social Security to continue receiving benefits.
“I told you you’re trying to put off (things). It’s starting to make me mad at Denise, because this isn’t right,” she wrote. “I’m getting to the point where I’m (forgetting) about it, I don’t want anything. I don’t even want to talk anymore.”
In closing arguments Friday, Deputy District Attorney Infinity Westberg called many of Gilks’ details about Carrier’s disappearance “lies” and said cell phone location data contradicted many of the things he told police.
“Cell phone evidence doesn’t lie,” she later said.
Gilks told investigators that after Menards left, he and Carrier went to buy marijuana from a drug dealer named “Tone” near 42nd Street and Jackson Avenue. There, two car doors opened, and Carrier got into a black car that took off.
He added that he fell and dropped his keys and lost track of the other car. Westberg said that was not true.
She admitted it was a “circumstantial” issue. Carrier was found shot twice in the head near a tree by a hunter in Gary Gleason Park on January 30. There was no DNA linking Gilkes to the crime scene. The gun was not recovered.
Records showed Gilkes never went to Tonn’s home that day, Westberg said. Instead, Gilks’ phone called his twin brother, Dwight Gilks, starting at 1:57 p.m. on January 26 near Gleason Park. In all, he called his brother four times in about five minutes.
A woman who was staying at Gilks’ home with her friend called him on Jan. 26 after she thought police had knocked on the door. Jelks said she needed to go and his brother would drive them. The woman left in such a hurry that she accidentally left the oven on. The files show she left without her dog and other items.
After Carrier’s disappearance, Dennis contacted several of her family members to “make up this story” that he had nothing to do with her death, Westberg said. Her cell phone and hat were never found. She was found in possession of $100, pills and cigarettes.
Det. Nick Wardrip testified that he was assigned to the case in May 2024.
Defense attorney Michael Lambert told the jury the evidence resembled “shiny” and “empty” Christmas presents found in a department store display window.
The lawyer said: “He did not commit this crime.”
Lambert wrote, citing her mother’s testimony, that Carrier struggled with drugs and would “disappear for long periods of time.” Her family said she always called when she disappeared, prosecutors said.
If it takes 15 minutes to get to Gleason Park from Menards, Gilkes has “seven minutes” to kill, Lambert said. The lawyer said the volatile relationship did not prove that Gilkes killed her.
At 1:57 p.m., Gilkes was “travelling” near Gleason Park looking for Carrier, Lambert said. Gilkes appeared to nod in agreement with what his lawyer said.
The deer hunter who found her body was in the same area on January 26 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Lambert said. If so, he would have seen Carrier’s body, not several days later when he was there on January 30.
The theory that Carrier was killed near where she was found was a relatively new theory, suggesting that police cut up carpet from Gilkes’ box for DNA analysis and found nothing.
“This is not a popularity contest, this is a murder trial,” the lawyer said. “He didn’t kill that girl. He didn’t have the time.”
A lighter was found near Carrier’s body and had traces of DNA from her other boyfriend, Joshua Harper. She had a Carrier lighter in her pocket. Westberg later responded that she may have been carrying two lighters. Harper was in a wheelchair and undergoing physical therapy at the time due to his fall from the roof of a work site.
There was no exact time of death, Lambert said. In accordance with COVID-19 protocols, an autopsy was not performed for another five days. He noted that the fisherman was interviewed only a few weeks ago. He said his memory was probably better in 2021.
Westberg responded that the signs pointed to Gilks’ guilt. He sent letters, tried to search for Carrier, and cooperated with police as he believed they had no leads on him – such as allowing them to search the house where Carrier had not been killed.
Hunter saw a 3-foot pool of blood in Gleason Park “That didn’t happen,” she said. She added that none of the crime scene investigators spotted her. She said the man was “shaken” when calling 911 and was in shock at what he saw.
Carrier did not have DNA under her fingernails, indicating she was killed by someone she knew, Westberg said.
Gilkes said Carrier was a “sweetheart” and he loved her to death.
“He loved her to death,” Westberg said.
mcolias@post-trib.com