On the evening of April 3, 2025, 61-year-old Ryan Aaron McClellan was found shot to death inside a U-Haul van in the 2100 block of East Washington Street, near Willard Park in Indianapolis. The Marion County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a homicide by gunshot wound.

Surveillance video and court filings describe a sequence beginning with a minor traffic collision in which McClellan’s U-Haul struck a Nissan. Video shows a man approach and speak with McClellan, then leave. Later Russell Phelps is seen approaching the van, peering inside, speaking with someone in a nearby Chevrolet, then entering the U-Haul wearing gloves and emerging with a cellphone and keys. The phone was later identified as McClellan’s; the U-Haul keys were found during a search of an apartment linked to the Nissan’s owner. A search of a Chrysler owned by Phelps uncovered his work ID and a firearm.

Phelps has been charged with assisting a criminal in committing murder and obstruction of justice; he is not accused in charging documents of firing the fatal shot. In a police interview he admitted picking up the phone but said he thought it was his and claimed he wore gloves because he is a clean person. The identity of the shooter remains under investigation.

Did anyone in the area that evening see the Chevrolet, the Chrysler, or the interaction by the U-Haul?