Authorities in Indianapolis said a 34-year-old maintenance man with active warrants in Alabama and Georgia fatally shot a 15-year-old girl staying in the apartment complex where he worked. According to FOX59, Janiya Carr’s body was found at the Carriage House East apartments on November 1.
The suspect, identified as Tevis Walker, was ultimately arrested on preliminary murder charges. Police said that prior to Carr’s killing, surveillance footage showed her entering Walker’s car around 4:15 a.m. on October 28.
Authorities also said that more than an hour later, Walker drove his car into the location where the victim’s body was found, WTHR reported. In the wake of the victim’s killing, Carr’s mother, Demetria Boston, and other residents in the apartment registered their displeasure with management over Walker’s hiring, citing the suspect’s background. Boston said the company “failed” them.
“How is it that they allowed this man to work here knowing that he has a warrant out of Alabama?” asked Boston. “How can you allow that? I feel tortured.”
“I feel like the qualifications the tenants have to have, the employees should have that same qualification,” another resident, Tyandra Nelson, added. “If we can’t live here with felonies and warrants, why can’t people who can come in our homes, to work on our homes, have the same? That doesn’t make sense.”
Police, however, did not state the motive behind the killing. “I feel empty. I feel confused. I have so many emotions. I feel sick,” Boston told FOX59. “But the torture of what he did to my baby is stuck in my head. I can’t sleep,” she added elsewhere in the interview.
In a statement, the company that owns the residential building, Gene B. Glick Company, said Walker 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,” the statement said.