Driver shot while holding knife to woman’s throat connected to murder of different woman last fall 

Driver shot while holding knife to woman’s throat last fall finally connected to murder of woman earlier that month. 

60-year-old Lamont Bland was killed during a standoff with police in November of 2023 after police arrived at his parked semi truck for a welfare check in Indianapolis. During the welfare check, officers discovered Bland on top of a woman inside of his parked rig. Bland then held a knife to the woman’s throat and threatened her and police before being fatally shot by the officers. 

In recently released body cam footage of the incident, officers can be seen attempting to negotiate with Bland before fatally shooting him. Since the shooting, police have found the DNA of a woman found murdered on I-90 in Erie, Pennsylvania inside of Bland’s truck cab, reported Your Erie News.

“GPS tracking placed him in Tennessee at the time of the victim’s [48-year-old Michelle Tayse] abduction and placed him in Pennsylvania at the time her body was discovered along I-90, said Trooper Todd Bingman, community service officer for Pennsylvania State Police Troop E Erie.

The discovery of the DNA pinpoints Bland as Tayse’s murderer. Because of Bland’s death, the case is now officially closed.