Fifteen-year-old Matthew J. New, a White male and student at North Salem High School, was found dead in a stolen truck on Northeast Evergreen Avenue the morning of November 6, 2023. A woman on a walk discovered him about 7:30 a.m.; he had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head and swelling to his face made immediate identification difficult. Police confirmed his identity a day and a half later using a birthmark his mother, Jennifer Newman, had described. Matthew had been out on a joyride in the stolen vehicle with two friends earlier that night.

Friends say he yelled insults at two people they passed; when they returned and drove by again, shots were fired into the truck. The two friends fled and left Matthew behind. A suspect was arrested two months later: Gage J. Clark Adkins, 17 at the time of the shooting, was taken into custody after turning 18 and indicted by a Marion County grand jury on second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and three counts of unlawful use of a weapon. Matthew had been working to improve his grades and planned to join the school wrestling team the day after he died.

Did anyone in the Salem area see or hear anything that night that could help the investigation?