On the evening of April 12, 2024, officers in Lawrence, Indiana, found three people shot to death inside a parked Chevy Cruze at the Jamestowne Apartments in the 4400 block of Duxbury Lane. One of the victims was 27-year-old Spencer Randolph Lawson Jr.; two 19-year-old cousins, Aaliyah Wortman and Londyn Coleman, were also killed. All three sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and pathologists later testified that Lawson alone had been struck about 26 times, many at close range.

Detectives described the killings as a set-up execution, saying the victims were likely ambushed in the parking lot. Investigators recovered shell casings and an abandoned Chevy Impala; forensic examination of that vehicle and other evidence helped identify suspects. Police say a second male suspect who allegedly participated died by suicide shortly after the incident and was never arrested.

Authorities arrested 25-year-old Malik Shaw and tried him in July 2025; the jury convicted him of two counts of murder for the deaths of Wortman and Coleman but deadlocked on the charge involving Lawson. The judge nonetheless sentenced Shaw to 116 years, with consecutive 58-year terms for the two convictions. The unresolved charge relating to Lawson’s death was said to be slated for future proceedings.

Did anyone in Lawrence know Spencer Lawson Jr. or remember seeing the Chevy Cruze that night?