Keyaun Schmitt-Hardimon was 15 when he was found dead inside a West Bluff home in Peoria, Illinois, on October 1, 2025. Officers arrived at a house in the 2400 block of North Sheridan Road after reports of gunfire and discovered Keyaun with multiple gunshot wounds; the coroner determined he died instantly and he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 7:30 a.m.

Investigators described a basement scene where Keyaun’s body had been tightly rolled in a carpet, blood pooled nearby and bullet damage marked furniture. A man hiding in a bathroom was found with a spent shell casing in his pocket. Witnesses later placed several people in the basement with Keyaun when the shots were fired.

By October 3 prosecutors charged Curtis Jones, 18, with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death and Jafari Robinson, 27, with concealment. A week later first-degree murder charges were filed against Robinson and Cortez D. Smith, 18, and Jones was also charged with first-degree murder; all three remained in custody as the case proceeded.

Did anyone in the West Bluff neighborhood see Keyaun or the house around dawn that morning?