Court docs detail murder, series of robberies committed during downtown riots; 2 suspects charged, 1 dead
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Documents released by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office detail a crime spree committed by a group during the second night of rioting in downtown Indianapolis.
Two of the suspects have been charged. One is dead.
On Thursday morning, MCPO charged 23-year-old Marcus Anderson with the murder of Chris Beaty. Anderson and Alijah Jones were previously arrested in August for the robbery of a woman in a parking garage minutes before Beaty was murdered. Dorian Murrell, seen in surveillance video with Anderson and Jones in late hours of May 30, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of May 31.
Murrell and Jones are half-brothers. Nakeyah Jones, girlfriend of Murrell, has also been identified. Another man traveling with the group has not been identified.
Detectives combed through social media and surveillance video, and received anonymous tips.
Forensic analysis even showed shots fired during a burglary of Twin Jewelers at Circle Centre Mall on May 29 came from the same gun used to kill Beaty.
A woman is robbed at gunpoint in a parking garage
At 11:23 p.m. May 30, a woman was robbed while sitting in her car inside of a parking garage at 167 E. Vermont St. Police said surveillance video showed Murrell pass a handgun to Jones. She told detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department that a man pointed a gun in her face and asked her where her car keys where while other people rummaged through her car.
She said another man “pulled her across the center console by her collar” and also asked where her keys were.
Police said this robbery was caught on surveillance video.
Anderson and Jones were charged for this robbery in August.
Their charges in this case are currently set to go to trial in February.
Shots fired at parking garage
On May 31, a man contacted police to report that a window was broken out of his car while at the Newpoint Parking Garage.
This is the same parking garage where Jones and Anderson are accused of robbing a woman.
The man found a bullet in his driver’s seat and a shell casing nearby.
Detectives say that forensic analysis shows that this casing was from the same firearm used to kill Beaty.
Video shows person shoved to the ground
Ten minutes after the woman in the parking garage was robbed, detectives say surveillance video shows the group near Michigan and Delaware streets.
The person is unknown to police.
Detectives say Anderson is seen extending his arm at the person, who then stops walking and freezes. Anderson then knocks the person to the ground, a struggle is seen, then the person gets up and runs away.
Murder of Beaty
Beaty, a local businessman and former Indiana University football player, went outside to check on his building.
“I’m bout to walk around the block now to make sure my building is good,” he sent in a text message one minute before surveillance video shows him walking out the front door of his building in the 400 block of North Delaware Street.
Investigators say that text message was sent at 11:35 p.m. His phone was found in the road near his body.
Four minutes later, police say he was shot. He died at the scene.
Police say Anderson fired that shot that killed Beaty.
Anderson was charged with Beaty’s murder on Thursday morning. He was charged with two counts of murder (one for Beaty’s murder, another for murdering Beaty while committing a robbery), six counts of armed robbery and one count of pointing a firearm.
His initial hearing is set for Dec. 7.
5 people report being robbed near where Beaty killed
While police were investigating Beaty’s murder, five more people said they were robbed at gunpoint and a shot was fired nearby.
A person identified as J.S. in court documents was with three other people in the 400 block of North Delaware Street. J.S. yelled “Run!” and fled while the three other people were forced to the ground. One victim, identified as A.T. in court documents, said his wallet, phone and phone charger were taken.
His phone charged was found at the scene of Beaty’s murder.
A woman in their group, A.B., said she was forced to the ground and had her phone taken, but it was left behind when the suspects fled. She said a shot was fired during the robbery, then she heard more shots later.
Another member of the group, B.M., said his cellphone, wallet and vape pen were taken.
His vape pen was also located near where Beaty was murdered.
He said one of the suspects held a gun to someone’s head during the robbery.
A woman identified in court documents as S.M. said she was walking with a friend when they happened upon the armed robbery.
She and her friend were ordered to the ground. She said a shot was fired near her head. Her friend’s backpack was stolen.
Shot fired at man driving a vehicle
At 11:40 p.m., a man said he was approached by men with guns while in his vehicle at the intersection of Vermont and Talbott streets.
He said they told him to get out of the vehicle.
He put his vehicle in reverse and fled.
A bullet was found under his hood.
Forensic analysis showed this bullet came from the same gun used to kill Beaty.
Murrell is shot, killed
Around 2:30 a.m. May 31, Murrell was shot just east of Monument Circle near East Market Street and North Pennsylvania Street. He later died at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.
Tyler Newby, 29 at the time of the shooting, turned himself in to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office reserve deputy shortly after the shooting.
“I don’t know who I need to tell, but I just shot somebody,” he said.
Newby was with a friend at the time.
The friend told investigators they “thought things had calmed down so they came downtown to see what all had happened,” according to court documents.
They got into an altercation with Murrell.
Newby said he felt a hand on his back, then was shoved to the ground.
When he rolled over, Murrell was standing over him. Newby pulled out a gun and fired a shot, according to court documents.
Jones was at the hospital with Murrell.
Newby was charged with murder on June 4. His trial is set for Feb. 22.
Surveillance video, witnesses help detectives create timeline
IMPD detectives used surveillance video and statements from the victims to piece together a timeline of the group’s movements.
- At 11:20 p.m., the suspects are seen walking in the 300 block of North Delaware Street. (#1)
- At 11:23 p.m., they are scene robbing the woman in the parking garage. (#2)
- At 11:32 p.m., they are seen walking north in 400 block of North Delaware Street. (#3)
- At 11:33 p.m., they are seen walking from the 400 block of North Delaware Street to the 100 block of East Michigan Street. This is where Anderson is seen extending his arm at the unknown person who was shoved to the ground. (#4 and #5)
- At 11:34 p.m., the group is seen walking south in the 400 block of North Pennsylvania Street from East Michigan Street. (#6)
- At 11:36 p.m., Beaty is seen walking out of his apartment building toward 400 N. Talbott St. (#7)
- Also at 11:36 p.m., three people are robbed, two more people who stumble upon the robbery are forced to the ground and a shot is fired. (#8)
- At 11:39 p.m., Beaty is shot and killed in the 400 block of North Talbott Street. (#9)
- At 11:40 p.m., the man in the car is told to get out of his vehicle and a shot is fired. (#10)
- At 11:41 p.m., Anderson is seen walking northeast in the 400 block of North Talbott Street. He runs across Delaware Street to the intersection of Delaware and Michigan streets. (#11)
- At 11:42 p.m., Murrell, Shields and the Unidentified Suspect #4 are seen meeting up with Anderson at Delaware and Michigan streets. (#11)
- At 11:42 p.m., Jones rejoins the group after walking north from the 400 block of North Talbott Street.
- At 11:44 p.m., all five suspects are seen walking west on East Michigan Street, then south in the 400 block of North Pennsylvania Street toward Vermont Street.
Detectives released photos from the parking garage robbery and received tips that Murrell and Jones were the suspects in the photos.
On June 22, a probation director got a tip that Anderson may have been involved with Beaty’s murder. She also advised detectives that Anderson was on probation for robbery.
On July 7, a woman contacted detectives after seeing a news report. She identified Jones as one of the suspects in the parking garage robbery.
Warrants granted, phone records and social media searched
On July 22, detectives got a tip that the woman seen in surveillance of the parking garage was Nakeyah Shields, Murrell’s girlfriend. Detectives found her Facebook page and a post on May 31 with a picture of them together.
“I was there with you,” the post read. “I held you, I tried everything to save you.”
On July 29, detectives received a tip of a Facebook Live video that showed the aftermath of Murrell’s shooting.
On Aug. 6, investigators received records for Anderson’s Facebook account after being granted a search warrant. Detectives say they found messages between Anderson and Jones from June 2 that referenced Beaty’s murder.
“Delete this s***,” Jones wrote to Anderson.
Investigators say Jones unfriended Anderson on Facebook on June 2.
Anderson was arrested on Aug. 13.
He had shorter hair than seen in the surveillance video.
“Had to cut it bro,” he wrote in a Facebook message to a friend on June 19.
A search warrant was also granted for the Facebook account belonging to Nakeyah Shields.
Detectives found this exchange between Shields and Anderson from June 4:
- Anderson: “Aye somebody wanna buy that gun. Ask bro do he want to sell it”
- Shields: “Don’t talk like that on my phone”
- Shields: “I don’t know what you talking about”
- Anderson: “My bad u right”
Shields spoke to investigators on Aug. 14.
“Shields began her statement by saying that she didn’t know who killed Christopher Beaty because she ‘wasn’t paying attention,’” court documents state.
She said she didn’t see Beaty got shot and described a brief verbal interaction with him.
The day prior, Jones was arrested in Tippecanoe County for marijuana possession and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
On Sept. 5, detectives looked at Anderson’s cellphone records. His phone was in the area of Beaty’s murder when he was killed.
Shields’ phone records were reviewed on Sept. 23, showing that she was also in the area of Beaty’s murder at the time of the killing.
On Sept. 25, detectives reviewed records of Anderson’s Gmail address. A video of him on May 30 shows him wearing the same shirt he is seen wearing in the parking garage surveillance footage.
