An Indianapolis woman says the man who set fire to her house three separate times and smashed 17 windows at her home and her son's home resumed sending her threatening messages just 11 days after walking out of jail. Kelly Humphrey, who lives in Indianapolis, says her ex-husband, David Humphrey, sent her images of gasoline and fire emojis, along with messages threatening suicide, after his release on July 10.
David Humphrey had entered a plea agreement on February 4 for arson and two counts of invasion of privacy, according to WIBC 93.1 FM. He received a 730-day sentence that included 365 days suspended and 365 days open to the court, but under Indiana's credit-time guidelines he served just 156 days before his release. Indiana Code allows inmates serving Level 6 felony time to be placed in Credit Class A, earning one day of good-time credit for every day served without disciplinary infractions — effectively cutting an executed sentence in half, according to Indyjustice.
Humphrey reported the new threats to police immediately. Her friend and paralegal, Amanda Zane, called the unknown number the threatening texts came from to verify its source, and David Humphrey confirmed his own identity on the call, per the outlet's reporting.
A Pattern Stretching Back Nearly Five Years
The harassment described in the case did not begin with fire. It started as financial fraud in November 2021, when Humphrey discovered unauthorized Cash App transfers and credit cards opened in her name, the station reported. By 2024, the conduct had escalated sharply: David Humphrey allegedly threw bricks and golf balls with written notes through her windows, then set two arson fires at her home on October 12, 2024.
A permanent civil protective order was granted against him on July 8, 2024, after he was captured on video smashing windows at her son's residence — an order meant to keep him away from her home, workplace, and family members' streets. Detective Paul Bellows suggested on July 24, 2026, that David Humphrey's bark was more than his bite, the outlet's reporting states. Officers ultimately took him into custody in Marion County on July 31, 2026, after an arrest warrant was issued that same date. He also slashed vehicle tires as part of the broader pattern of conduct, and now faces upcoming court hearings for probation violations.
Why Wasn't It a Higher-Level Felony?
Humphrey has questioned why David Humphrey was classified with a Level 6 felony rather than a Level 5 felony, given the history involved. Under Indiana Code § 35-45-10-5, criminal stalking is generally a Level 6 felony, but the charge escalates to a Level 5 felony if committed while an active protective order is in place or if it involves explicit or implicit threats of serious bodily injury or death, according to Justia Law. David Humphrey remains in jail on a $20,000 cash bond and may seek a bond reduction, and if he is released again, it would reportedly include home detention with location exclusion zones.
Those exclusion zones would restrict where he can physically go, but as the case illustrates, they do not prevent threatening text messages from reaching Humphrey — nor do court orders in general prevent someone from sending them. Kelly Humphrey had a pre-existing criminal no-contact order that David Humphrey violated, underscoring the limits of paper protections against digital harassment.
A Judge's Frustration and a Broken Lookup System
During a December 1, 2025 contempt hearing, the presiding judge told Humphrey that “the record doesn't have eyeballs” while asking her to prove protective-order violations, even though she had presented dozens of police reports and 911 call logs, per the station's account. Judge May, an Indiana appellate court judge who is also Kelly Humphrey's friend and neighbor, contacted law enforcement on July 29, 2026, to express outrage over how the case had been handled.
Separately, when Kelly Humphrey called the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to check her ex-husband's warrant status, the call was routed to a front-desk secretary rather than an officer with direct access to the case. IMPD attributes missing protective-order records to human error, including name variations or hyphenated surnames, according to the outlet's reporting. Indiana's electronic Protection Order Registry, run through the judicial INcite system and linked to the Indiana Data and Communications System, is supposed to let law enforcement in all 92 counties view active protective orders instantly, per The Indiana Lawyer — but clerical mismatches can still cause the system to fail victims in the field. IMPD manages protective orders through a court-populated system, and cause numbers can help officers locate records that a name search alone misses.
What Officers Tell Victims to Do
Officer Tommy Thompson urges victims to demand a written report whenever an officer cannot immediately see an order in the system. He also advises victims to keep a physical, certified copy of their protective order on hand, since certified copies can serve as direct proof of protection for officers who respond to a scene. Thompson directs victims toward Victim's Assistance, Indy Champions, and the Indy Public Safety Foundation for further support.
Kelly Humphrey is now demanding accountability from local law enforcement and the judicial system, saying the four years of escalating conduct she has endured — and the gaps she encountered trying to get it enforced — point to deeper problems. Her case echoes a broader pattern documented statewide: roughly 43 percent of women in Indiana experience some form of domestic violence, placing the state fifth-highest in the nation for its prevalence, according to Public News Service. That same reporting noted that court advocates who once helped domestic violence survivors with safety planning and protective-order processes in the Marion County court system were discontinued in 2021.
Local law enforcement has periodically targeted outstanding domestic violence warrants through operations like IMPD's “Operation Domestic Disruption,” which led to 18 arrests and 26 felony warrants served in October 2024, according to IMPD News. Anyone experiencing domestic violence can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
