In a nightmare scene that prosecutors say unfolded in front of terrified children, a cheating husband from Indianapolis, Indiana is accused of shooting his wife to death as their kids frantically dialed 911, begging dispatchers to save their mom. The murder allegedly unfolded days after the wife caught her husband cheating and made plans to leave him.
Indiana police say 47-year-old cheating husband Cecil Mains fatally shot his 44-year-old wife, Jerri Mains, outside their southeast Indianapolis home on December 28 after a volatile domestic dispute that had been escalating for days. The couple’s four children — ages 19, 17, 14 and 10 — were inside the home when gunfire erupted.
Cecil Mains, 46, was officially charged Jan. 4. pic.twitter.com/u6LHuD51oN
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) January 6, 2026
What followed were gut-wrenching 911 calls that captured the terror of children watching their family collapse in real time. “I’m hiding,” the youngest child cried to a dispatcher. “My dad is shooting my mom.” Another child, voice breaking, pleaded, “Please hurry. I can’t live without her.”
One of the older children told dispatchers their father had already shot their mother inside the house before firing again outside. “My dad just shot my mom,” the teen said. “He shot her twice.”
Indianapolis police rushed to the scene and found Jerri Mains lying wounded in the driveway with gunshot wounds to her chest. She was transported to a hospital, where she later died from her injuries, Indiana authorities said.
Investigators say the killing by the accused cheating husband came just days after Jerri Mains tried to protect herself and her children by seeking a restraining order. Indianapolis court crime records show she filed for a protective order on Christmas Day, citing ongoing abuse and threats. The order had not yet been formally approved due to the holiday closure of the courts.
According to charging documents, an argument the day before the shooting turned violent when cheating husband Cecil Mains allegedly assaulted Jerri and threatened to kill her. Indianapolis prosecutors say those threats became reality less than 48 hours later.
After the shooting, police say the cheating husband fled the scene in a pickup truck, leaving his children behind in shock and chaos. Cecil Mains was later arrested during a traffic stop and has since been charged with murder. He is being held without bond at the Marion County Jail as the case moves forward.
Indianapolis prosecutors described the case as a devastating example of domestic violence escalating to lethal levels. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said the children suffered “unimaginable trauma” that will follow them for the rest of their lives.
Friends and relatives described Jerri Mains as a devoted mother who was trying to protect her children and start over. Her family says she loved her kids fiercely and was doing everything she could to keep them safe.
Now, those same children are left to grapple with the horror of hearing their mother’s final moments over the phone with emergency dispatchers — a haunting reminder, advocates say, of how quickly domestic violence can turn deadly when warning signs are ignored.
As the Indianapolis murder case against the cheating husband proceeds, the tragedy has reignited calls for faster protective order processing and stronger intervention in domestic abuse cases. For the Mains children, however, the damage is already done.
