Pursuit ends in arrest of man on parole in ’02 homicide case

Peter Demetro

A 36-year-old Indianapolis man is facing three criminal charges and a potential parole violation after reportedly leading authorities on a two-county police pursuit early Monday.

Peter Simon Demetro, a man once charged with murder in a 2002 Vigo County case, is now lodged at the Putnam County Jail on charges of criminal confinement (Level 5 felony), resisting law enforcement (Level 6 felony), reckless driving (a Class B misdemeanor) and parole violation.

According to the court records site Doxpop, Demetro pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the Terre Haute case and served a 30-year sentence before being released in September 2017.

Demetro was arrested in northern Owen County early Monday morning after crashing his car on Owl Hollow Road, ending a pursuit that began in Putnam County.

The incident began to unfold shortly after midnight Monday when Putnam County authorities requested Owen County assistance with a pursuit in which Putnam officers were involved.

During the pursuit, a female passenger, Tiffany Lynn Catterson, 29, Terre Haute, called 911 to report she wanted out of the vehicle but that the driver, Demetro, was refusing to let her out.

Demetro reportedly headed southbound on U.S. 231 before turning west onto State Road 42 at which point the suspect vehicle was no longer in sight of the Putnam officers, Owen authorities noted.

With Owen County deputies responding to the area, Deputy Caleb Hutchison observed the southbound vehicle and attempted to catch up to the vehicle before it left the roadway and crashed into a fence.

Demetro fled the vehicle and was tracked by Hutchison’s K9 partner Koda, who located the suspect hiding behind a tree about 400 feet from the crash site. He was taken into custody without incident.

Catterson, meanwhile, was also arrested on an out-of-county warrant. She has bonded out of the Putnam County Jail.

Demetro, meanwhile, made a court appearance Tuesday with an initial hearing conducted before Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley.

The defendant entered a not-guilty plea to criminal confinement and resisting law enforcement and the court appointed attorney Sid Tongret as his public defender.

Bond was set at $10,000 cash only and Demetro was remanded to the custody of the Putnam County sheriff.

A pretrial conference in the case was set for 9 a.m. July 19.

Court records shows the 2002 Vigo County case against Demetro was originaly filed as a murder case before being modified to a Class A felony charge of voluntary manslaughter, to which Demetro entered a plea of guilty and served 15 acutal years (equaling a 30-year court sentence through the old two-for-one good time credit).