Allen County man charged with murdering wife in home shooting
Inside a quiet Woodlake Estates mobile home, Sandra Sue Chelf was shot dead, and investigators say her 79-year-old husband later admitted he pulled the trigger.
The small home in Woodlake Estates Mobile Home Park sat in southwest Allen County near Fort Wayne International Airport, but the call that pulled deputies there turned a domestic address into a homicide scene. Sandra Sue Chelf, 77, was found with gunshot wounds and pronounced dead at the residence. Her husband, James Richard Chelf II, 79, is now charged with murder.
The Allen County Sheriff’s Office said deputies and Indiana State Police troopers responded to the 100 block of Woodlake Run at about 10:08 p.m. on May 22, 2026, after a report of a shooting inside the home. Officers detained an adult male at the scene and found an adult female suffering from gunshot wounds. Medics pronounced Sandra Chelf dead where she was found.
Investigators later identified the man as James Richard Chelf II of Yoder, Indiana, and took him to the Allen County Jail on a preliminary murder charge. He had an initial hearing Wednesday in Allen Superior Court 6, where he was formally charged with murder.
The moments before the shooting appear to have unfolded inside the couple’s bedroom. Court documents say Chelf told investigators he and Sandra Chelf were arguing while she worked on a project in the bedroom, and that he shot her during the argument. Those same records say he told police he had “lost my mind,” had “no reason why,” had “gone nuts,” and was sorry he did it.
A neighbor across the street also became part of the chain of events. Court records say Chelf walked to the neighbor’s home and said he had just shot his wife, prompting a 911 call. When officers searched the home, they reportedly found Sandra Chelf lying on the bedroom floor with head and torso wounds.
Police also recovered a .38 revolver on the dining room table, with three spent casings, two live rounds and one empty chamber. The Allen County Coroner’s Office later ruled Sandra Sue Chelf’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and her manner of death was homicide. WRTV reported that one of those wounds was to the head.
The coroner’s office identified Sandra Chelf as Allen County’s 13th homicide of 2026. The investigation remains active with the Allen County Police Department, the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office and the coroner’s office, even as the legal case now begins to move forward around a killing that happened inside a home that was supposed to be ordinary, private and safe.
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