A 911 call for a garage fire in the early morning of June 15, 2018, brought firefighters to a vacant house on the 1100 block of Warman Avenue in Indianapolis. In the backyard they found the burning body of 20-year-old Melissa Runnels. The remains were initially too badly burned for gender to be determined. An autopsy showed Melissa had been fatally shot before her body was set on fire, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Investigators searched the vacant house near the scene but reported finding nothing of evidentiary value. Neighbors said the property had been empty for about a year and a half and did not recognize Melissa. Melissa’s mother has suggested her daughter had been spending time with a dangerous crowd and thought the killing might be drug-related. No arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced, and the case remains unsolved; Melissa’s parents later hired a private detective to assist their search for answers.

Did anyone in Indianapolis know Melissa’s movements or who she’d been spending time with in the weeks before June 15, 2018?