IndyStar.com: Crime & Courts
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
1 dead, 2 wounded after nightclub shooting
One person died and two others were wounded after being shot late Friday at a Westside night spot, police said. Indianapolis police were called about 11 p.m. to Patty’s Show Club, 2014 W. Washington St., where they found two men and a woman with...
Teen's body found in N. Indiana; teen held
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. — Authorities in Northern Indiana say they’ve found a body thought to be that of a runaway 14-year-old girl and are holding a 17-year-old boy on a preliminary charge of murder. The Whitley County sheriff’s department had been...
Lafayette man gets 60 years in friend’s murder
Before reading her letter from the witness stand Friday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1, Nicole Krebs had one request for her brother’s convicted murderer, Jeremy D. Knoy: Please keep your eyes on me. Krebs, 25, tearfully told Knoy that he always was...
Stricken northern Indiana officer dies from heart illness
KOUTS, Ind. — A northern Indiana police officer has died of heart-related causes more than a week after he fell ill while on duty. Forty-eight-year-old Robert Thornberry died Wednesday night at University of Chicago Hospital, where he had been...
Video peeping case may be at risk
Experts: Loophole threatens charges in incident at mall Recording video underneath women’s skirts at a mall might seem like an obvious crime. But not in Indiana, according to legal experts who say a recent Marion County case is at risk of...
Muncie pharmacy robber tells judge of his devotion to Satan
Muncie man who previously held ‘neo-Nazi’ rally gets 12 years MUNCIE, Ind. — Dmitriy V. Sklyarov’s odd stint as a local newsmaker began three years ago Saturday, when he held a sparsely attended “neo-Nazi” rally on...
Charges filed in highway worker's death
CROWN POINT, Ind. — Prosecutors have filed felony reckless homicide charges against the man believed to have been the driver who ran away after his car struck and killed a worker in a northwestern Indiana highway construction zone. The Lake...
Ex-mayor's killer, 65, loses appeal of latest conviction
The woman convicted of killing a former Evansville mayor three decades ago will remain in custody after an appeal of her conviction for the stabbing of a psychiatric hospital worker was rejected. The Indiana Court of Appeals turned down arguments...
Gas leak forces business evacuations
A busy Downtown intersection reopened this morning after crews shut off a leaking natural gas main. A delivery truck struck a meter at Chef’s Academy, 644 E Washington St., rupturing a 3-inch gas main, Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Reith...
Burglars strike church for second time
One of Indianapolis’ most prominent churches has been burglarized twice this year, according to reports from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The most recent break-in at St. John Missionary Baptist Church was reported just after...
St. Pat's patrols collar 12 DUI suspects
Police kept their promise to crack down on drunk drivers on St. Patrick’s Day. Reports from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department showed a dozen drunk driving arrests were made on Wednesday, three times as many as were made on...
Man killed by officer had led police on chases
Man shot and killed by officer was involved in earlier incidents Warren Collins had a history of running from police. That behavior caught up with him Tuesday, police said, when the convicted habitual traffic offender was shot and killed after a car...
Man pleads guilty to killing local advocate
An Indianapolis man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a reduced manslaughter charge in the fatal stabbing of a homeless advocate who had tried to help him. Samuel Fancher, 47, had faced a murder charge in the November 2008 killing. The body of Gregory...
Ex-insurance agent convicted on 3 counts
Former Connersville insurance agent Christopher West was convicted Wednesday by a Franklin County jury on three counts of violating state securities laws. According to state officials, prosecutors say West told terminal cancer patient Anthony...
Suspect is arrested in construction site death
Lake Station — State Police say they’ve arrested the man thought to have been the driver who ran away after his car struck and killed a worker in a Northwest Indiana highway construction zone. Police arrested Robert Shannon, 35, Hammond,...
Police find wandering boy, 1, near street
Two children were removed from a Westside house after one of them, a one-year-old boy, was found on Wednesday night wandering down a busy street clad in only a diaper. The baby and his nine-year-old brother were placed in the custody of Child...
Man convicted in 30-year-old murder
Marion — An Indiana jury has found a Kentucky man guilty of murder in the 1979 killing of a man who was shot in the head and had his throat cut. The Grant County jury also found 68-year-old Alfred Solomon guilty Wednesday of robbery resulting...
U.S. chief justice to speak at IU law school
INDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts is returning to his home state next month to give a lecture at the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. The school announced today that Roberts will give James P. White Lecture on Legal...
Indianapolis officer fatally shoots man, 35, after chase on Far Eastside
Officer fired in self-defense after a confrontation, IMPD says A police officer shot and killed a 35-year-old habitual traffic offender Tuesday night after a car chase and fight on the Far Eastside. Police say the man got out of his car in the 3300...
Trooper left gun in store rest room
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Indiana State Police say a trooper will remain on duty while officials review details of an incident in which he left his loaded handgun in the restroom of a Lowe’s home improvement store. State police spokesman Sgt....
Jump in inmates is biggest in U.S.
State prison population rose 5.3 percent last year For the first time since 1972, the number of inmates in state prisons in the U.S. has dropped. No thanks to Indiana. Last year, the prison population dipped in 27 states, and a new report to be...
Speeder fatally strikes construction worker
Lake Station — Police are searching for a driver who fled on foot after his speeding car struck and killed a construction worker on a northwestern Indiana highway. State police say a crew was patching potholes in a construction zone on...
Anti-crime grant proposal meets resistance
Some council members balk at using city money for Peace in the Streets A bipartisan group of City-County Council members is pushing back against funding a marketing effort touted by the mayor and other city leaders as a way to help reduce crime....
Suspect in stabbing of officer pleads guilty
Columbus — A man has pleaded guilty to charges that he stabbed a Central Indiana police officer who was trying to arrest him. Bartholomew County prosecutors dropped attempted-murder charges against Carl Drucker II, 38, in exchange for his...
Man shot, killed in confrontation with IMPD officer on Eastside
A 35-year-old man died Tuesday after being shot in a confrontation with an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer. The man, whose name was not released, died just after 8 p.m. at Wishard Memorial Hospital. The officer was taken to...
Woman's claim of being hostage unravels
The case of a woman who said she was abducted and forced to withdraw money from the ATMs over the weekend appears to be falling apart. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the two arrests made in the case over the weekend...
Serial seducer with AIDS faces 15 new felony charges
A Greenwood man accused of having sex with women and not telling them he has AIDS now faces 15 felony charges in Johnson County. Tony Perkins, 47, already had pleaded guilty to two felony counts during a court hearing last month. That hearing and the...
$20 peddler's license needed to sell NCAA tickets on Indianapolis streets
Anyone heading to the men’s college basketball final four in two and a half weeks might want to consider getting a peddler’s license before they think about selling any spare tickets. Even if they do have a license, they shouldn’t count on making...
Highway worker killed, driver flees
LAKE STATION, Ind. — Police say a speeding car struck and killed a construction worker on a northwestern Indiana highway. State police say a crew was patching potholes in a construction zone on westbound Interstate 80-94 in Lake Station behind...
Shopper arrested after misplacing car, son
An Indianapolis woman was arrested for child neglect after reportedly leaving her two-year-old son in a parked car on a Downtown street. The woman told officers she forgot where she parked her car, according to a report from the Indianapolis...
