Nine people charged in alleged murder at Miami Correctional Facility
On Nov. 26, 2025, an alleged prison brawl broke out, according to sources, and the Indiana State Police later announced 36-year-old J Trinidad Ramirez was killed. The Indy Star reported he was stabbed around 5:30 p.m. that evening. Ramirez was serving a 150-year sentence for murder from an April 2020 triple homicide.
Staff posted on Facebook the same day as his death that the prison was going on lockdown.
ABC57 requested the official autopsy report for Ramirez, but never got a response from the Miami County Coroner.
Thursday, ISP announced the charges in connection with his death. Na-Son Smith has the harshest charges, including Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter, while Matthew Shepard, Sherman Thompson, Anthony York, Breon Davenport, David Holder, Victor Adamson-Scott, Aaron Sawyer, and Tony Love all face Aggravated Battery and Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon charges.
In an anonymous but exclusive ABC57 interview, Annie Kate spoke with the daughter of Ramirez, who is grieving the loss of her father but also seeking more answers in his death investigation.
"People think that since they're incarcerated, they deserve less than any other human being, which I don't believe is true. We are all humans; we all have a purpose on this earth," said Ramirez's daughter.
She says her dad often complained about the widely-reported short-staffing at the prison.
In another exclusive interview, South Bend man Jyshawn Moore, who is incarcerated at Miami Correctional, spoke with Annie Kate on the phone about the rampant violence at the prison that puts himself and everyone else in consistent danger.
"I've literally seen somebody get stabbed to death right in front of my eyes," Moore said. "The warden don't run the prison, the mayor don't run the prison, so it's just basically, you know, you have to carry a knife here in order to survive."
His relative said on Thursday that the lockdown is still ongoing in parts of the prison, now lasting longer than 120 days.
ABC57 is also waiting on autopsy information from the Dec. 5, 2025, death of 38-year-old Anthony Barbee, who died just a week after Ramirez.
Miami Correctional is the same prison Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used as a migrant detention facility since October 2025, dubbed the "Speedway Slammer" by the Trump administration. ABC57 reported on Wednesday that the official cause of death for an ICE detainee, Lorth Sims, was deemed to be natural causes.
The charges are as follows:
33-year-old Na-Son Smith
- Murder - Murder
- Voluntary Manslaughter – Level 2 Felony
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
34-year-old Matthew Shepard
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
32-year-old Sherman Thompson
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
24-year-old Anthony York
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
27-year-old Breon Davenport
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
34-year-old David Holder
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
35-year-old Victor Adamson-Scott
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
28-year-old Aaron Sawyer
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
42-year-old Tony Love
- Aggravated Battery – Level 3 Felony
- Prisoner Possessing a Deadly Weapon – Level 4 Felony
- Battery w/ a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
All nine suspects are currently being housed at the Miami Correctional Facility.