A body recovered from the St. Joseph River in Elkhart on July 17, 2025, was identified the next day as 50-year-old Anthony Null. Officers were called to the 300 block of East Beardsley Avenue where the Elkhart Fire Department helped retrieve the remains from the water. The Elkhart County Coroner’s Office and Homicide Unit opened an inquiry into the circumstances.

On July 22 the coroner ruled Null’s death a homicide; an autopsy found he had been killed by a gunshot wound before his body entered the river. Court documents state a witness heard an argument between Michael E. Hawkins Jr., 59, and Null over synthetic marijuana and coffee, then heard a single gunshot and saw Null slouched and bleeding. Hawkins was arrested and charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and was arraigned being held without bond.

Did anyone in Elkhart see or hear anything near East Beardsley Avenue on the afternoon of July 17 that could help investigators?