Indiana Football Player Cam Wilson's Mother's Death Ruled a Homicide

Cam Wilson's mother, Cassandra Wilson, was a popular businesswoman in their hometown of Columbus, Ind. She was found shot to death late Friday night and Wilson's father, a person of interest in the homicide, was found dead the next day.

Updated: TUESDAY, 4 p.m. ET

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Cassondra Wilson, the mother of Indiana football player Cam Wilson and a popular and well-known businesswoman in Columbus, Ind., was found dead late Friday night, the victim of a fatal shooting that has been ruled a homicide, according to the Columbus Police Department.

Her ex-husband, Troy A. Wilson, was found dead of a gunshot wound in Indianapolis on Saturday in what is an apparent murder/suicide. Wilson, who is Cam's father, is considered a person of interest in his ex-wife’s death, according to multiple reports. 

Cassondra Wilson had a protective order filed in Columbus against her ex-husband at the time of her death, Lt. Matt Harris, the Public Information Officer at the Columbus Police Department, said Monday. 

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Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting ruled her death a homicide on Sunday, and Harris said "the investigation is still ongoing,'' he said. "The detectives are still doing their work, and going where the leads take them. They are working through additional  facts and piecing this thing together.''

Cassandra Wilson is pictured with her three children recently, including her son Cam (far left), who is a wide receiver on Indiana's football team. 

Cam Wilson was a standout football player at Columbus East High School, and was a teammate there with fellow Indiana football player Harry Crider, graduating with honors in 2016. Wilson was a two-time captain at Columbus East, finishing his four-year high school career with 72 receptions for 2,150 receiving yards, 900 kick-return yards and 27 total touchdowns. He was named an Indiana Football Coaches Association All-Star in 2016.

He originally signed with Illinois State and redshirted as a freshman in 2017, but then transferred to Indiana. He sat out the 2018 season per NCAA rules, and played briefly in three games a year ago.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Cam and his family,'' Indiana football coach Tom Allen said Sunday in a statement released by the school. "We’ve been in contact and communication with Cam once we learned of this tragedy. He is a tremendous young man, and we will continue to assist and support him in any and all ways. We ask everyone to respect Cam and his family’s privacy during this difficult time."

Cam Wilson (center) is pictured with fellow Indiana wide receivers Miles Marshall, Ty Fryfogle, Whop Philyor and Jordan Jakes. 

Cassondra M. Wilson was 45 years old and a popular part of the Columbus community, She was chief executive officer of “trainerconnect” in Columbus, a company providing in-depth training opportunities for companies including Cummins, Inc., Enkei and other local large manufacturing facilities. 

She was also appointed by the Indiana governor as a member of the Minority Business Council for the state of Indiana, serving as its commissioner for southern Indiana, the Columbus Republic reported.

According to a story in the Republic, several community leaders had wonderful things to say about Wilson. Former Columbus Mayor Fred Armstrong said he had met Wilson working at Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus, saying he knew right off that she was “sharp as a tack and so easy to talk to—just a nice human being.”

Describing her as a “very smart lady,” Armstrong told the Republic that Wilson worked very hard to create her “trainerconnect” business, which just had its ribbon cutting for a grand opening which he attended a few months ago at its new office space on Central Avenue.

He described her as a wonderful mom with a deep love for family, saying Wilson had built her life around her three children. Armstrong said Wilson will be missed by a lot of people in Columbus.

“She was just a great lady, just a good human being,” he said. “She will be really missed.”

Harris said Wilson's protective order was filed through the Columbus Police Department. He said "there had to be a reason for that, in order to get a protective order,'' so there seems to be a history of problems between Wilson and her ex-husband.

Harris said he did not know Wilson personally, but "I know Cameron is a great kid—they all are—and everything I've been told about her was that she was a wonderful woman and a very well respected businesswoman in our community. She was well thought of by a lot of people.''

Columbus is a city of about 45,000 people about 40 miles east of Bloomington. Homicides are rare there. Even though this is the third in 2020, they "average about one a year and violent crimes in Columbus average about half of the national average,'' Harris said. "This is very rare for us, and almost all of our homicides in recent years have been domestic related.''

This certainly appears to be the case as well. The Indianapolis Metro Police Department had no comment on Monday, and said all information on the homicide investigation would be released through the Columbus department. 

RELATED: Family sets up GoFundMe page

The family of Cassondra Wilson has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover "death-related expenses during this difficult time. Her three children "counted on her for everything,'' oldest son Jaden Wilson said. 

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