After Jimmijion Bailey was shot dead in his new girlfriend’s Gary apartment in October, authorities said Ralph Stokes II had help to dispose of his body.

Now, the woman’s mother is the second person formally implicated in the case.

Betty Ann Tomlinson, 50, was charged Thursday afternoon with arson, conspiracy to commit arson and assisting a criminal. She is in custody, held on a $4,500 bond.

Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force Detective Jason Szemes wrote that Tomlinson bought cleaning supplies for Stokes from a Walgreens on Oct. 6. Then, she bought two bottles of lighter fluid around 3 a.m. Oct. 11 from a Citgo gas station in Gary.

Investigators found three nearly empty liter fluid bottles – including the two she bought – left in the apartment.

Bailey, 25, of Gary, went missing on Oct. 5. His body was found decapitated Oct. 11 on the 2300 block of Clay Street with his arms and knees bound with black tape. Stokes, 24, was charged in his murder.

Bailey’s relatives said previously he had just started dating the woman a few weeks earlier and Stokes, her child’s father, was jealous.

Police learned bits of the conversation after he was killed.

“Why would you do that with our child present,” the woman screamed.

“That’s who I am,” Stokes responded.

Stokes claimed in a police interview that he shot Bailey in self-defense.

License plate readers showed Bailey showed up at the apartment on Oct. 5. Later, his Chrysler 200 was driven off, followed by a black Audi toward 9th and Roosevelt, to ditch Bailey’s car, before the black car headed back to the apartment.

Then, the black Audi and Ford Flex head to the 2300 block of Clay Street, where Bailey’s body was later found. An Infiniti also showed up at the apartment for 20 minutes that night. Those vehicles were all registered to Stokes’ relatives, records show.

When police executed a search warrant on Oct. 11 in the girlfriend’s apartment on the 500 block of Vermillion Place, they were hit with “an overpowering chemical odor” and saw “several lighter fluid bottles” on the floor.

Some flooring in the hallway was “melted.”

The apartment appeared to be mostly cleared out — aside from a bed, an air mattress and kids clothes in another room. In the main bedroom, cops saw what appeared to be several spots of dried blood, and a large “reddish colored stain” under a blanket on the mattress.

When detectives cut through the mattress, it looked blood-soaked, like someone had tried to torch the apartment by lighting it on fire.Investigators were tipped off on Oct. 10 that Bailey was shot inside the girlfriend’s apartment. His body was moved to the bathroom for several hours. His car was taken to 9th and Roosevelt to “throw off the investigation.” The girlfriend changed her number after Bailey was killed, the affidavit states.

Betty Tomlinson was pulled over in the Ford Flex after she left the Stokes’ home on Oct. 12. At the police station, she asked for a lawyer.

During his police interview, Stokes angrily pointed the finger at his former girlfriend, alleging she put the events in motion by inviting him over that day to help put together a bedroom set for their child.

During Stokes’ bail hearings, police said Tomlinson bought cleaning supplies from a Portage Walgreens just before 2:30 a.m. Oct. 6 for him – including microfiber towels, duct tape, hydrogen peroxide, Lysol, bleach and disposable gloves. The car then returned to the girlfriend’s apartment.

Stokes’ next bail hearing is in August.

Anyone with more information can call Szemes at 219-755-3855.

Post-Tribune archives contributed.

mcolias@post-trib.com