Source: IMPD
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A maintenance man accused of killing a 15-year-old girl on Indy’s northeast side in late October is now formally charged with her murder.
Tevis Walker, 34, appeared in a Marion County courtroom on Wednesday, where a judge ordered him held without bond until trial.
Prosecutors say Walker shot and killed 15-year-old Janiya Carr on Oct. 28 and left her body in a tree line behind the Carriage House East apartment complex off of East 42nd Street.
On Nov. 1, a woman walking her dog on Nov. 1 found the body of a teenage girl behind an apartment building on Aristocrat Drive and called 911.
The body, later identified as Carr, had “a bullet wound to her right cheek and trauma to the back of her head,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by News 8.
Investigators also found “what appeared to be some blood on the ground and drag marks,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Detective Jeremy Ingram wrote in a report.
Police identified the teenager as Carr, who had been listed as a runaway since Oct. 28.
Investigators used video from the Carriage House East apartment complex and various points along East 42nd Street to piece together a timeline of events.
Just after 4 a.m., Carr was seen leaving her apartment building and walking along Newburgh Drive.
Around 4:30 a.m., cameras on Newburgh Drive showed Carr getting into a Kia sedan registered to Tevis Walker. IMPD says Walker was a maintenance man at the apartment complex and lived on the property.
According to court papers, the Kia left the apartment complex after picking up Carr and returned less than an hour later.
At 5:21 a.m., another camera showed the Kia sedan drive into the grass behind his apartment building and stop near where Carr’s body was found.
“The lights of the vehicle go off,” Det. Ingram wrote. “Movement can be seen, but the view is not clear.”
Ingram says a few minutes later, Walker was seen walking to a dumpster two times from his vehicle and then appeared to “place something in the trunk” before going inside his apartment building.
Court papers say Walker told IMPD that he was picking up a female on Newburgh Drive that night and they went “several miles east to buy an iPad.”
“Tevis stated that the female recognized him from being around but he didn’t know her name. Tevis stated (that) after driving her east to pick up the iPad, the person didn’t show (up) with the iPad, and he returned her back to Newburgh Drive,” Ingram wrote.
After that, court papers say, Walker told IMPD that he and Carr returned to the apartment, she got out of his car, and he went home. He also told investigators that the Kia sedan was his and he was the only person who drove it.
Police did not say what led to the killing.
IMPD officers arrested Walker on Nov. 2 during a traffic stop at 82nd Street and Shadeland Avenue.
IMPD says he had several active warrants for drugs and a handgun offense. The narcotics and handgun offense warrant from Florida had full extradition.
Walker’s next court date is a pretrial hearing on Feb. 20, 2024. A jury trial is set to begin on Feb. 26.
Statement from Gene B. Glick Company
The Gene B. Glick Company was shocked and deeply saddened by the fatal shooting of Janiya Carr, a teenage resident of Carriage House East in Indianapolis. We mourn with her family and friends and our entire Carriage House East community over this senseless tragedy.
A Carriage House East employee has been arrested for this crime, and we are working closely with IMPD to actively assist with the investigation. Our community’s private security force, comprised of off-duty IMPD officers, has been working with and providing information to IMPD and their detectives and investigators.
The individual under arrest was hired in June 2023 after passing state and national background checks administered by a professional screening company. All Glick employee applicants must pass these background checks to gain employment. These checks did not reveal the individual’s pending charges in Alabama and Georgia, and we have an inquiry into our background check provider for further explanation.
Story by Ashley Fowler
