crime

It was an “everybody remembers where they were” moment. The devastating explosion in a quiet suburb shattered lives. Ten years on, we revisit the tragedy and the people who rose to the occasion in unprecedented ways.

Prime suspects.

“The toughest part is when I’m reporting and I don’t know if it’s leading anywhere. Is there a question that’s worth answering, and even if there is, am I going to be able to answer it with intelligence?”

For people living in Indianapolis in 1978, the year must have seemed like the last they’d ever see.

Did Cleveland Bynum kill five people? According to a dead man, no.

Jessie Whitehouse was shot in her home last fall, and IMPD hasn’t yet publicly identified a suspect.

At least 15 critical mistakes led directly to Tyson’s conviction.

Don Huckstep thought he’d found true love in his small hometown of Fowler, Indiana. But when Teri Deneka mysteriously vanished from his life, the disappearance foreshadowed a bizarre—and grisly—series of discoveries that left Huckstep, police, and another man’s family with more questions than answers.

“Property crimes are the most common type,” says district commander Karen Arnett, “specifically thefts from vehicles.” Not surprising, given the 90,000-plus parking spaces downtown.

Chris Carlson left Indianapolis with his three grandsons for a male-bonding adventure in the Grand Canyon. Then he went to prison.

“We are all defined by our fathers,” says Bishop T. Garrett Benjamin of Mmoja Ajabu. “Everything we do in life is either in honor of, or in reaction to them.”

Phil Ferguson pulled off one of the biggest frauds in Indiana history, duping clients out of millions of dollars and staying one step ahead of the law.

After one son died in a house fire, Kristine Bunch of Greensburg did 16 years for murder and arson while separated from her other child. Eventually she won a grueling fight for freedom and a chance to be a mother again. But some things, she discovered, were lost forever.

Ten years have passed since I last brushed Kate’s hair from her cheek. I’m not the same person I was then, and I know now I never will be. But I do the best I can with the life I have now.

My old neighborhood used to be a nice little place to live. But since I moved back, rampant crime has made it a desperate, dangerous wasteland. It just took a botched burglary at a friend’s house for me to wake up and see it.