Lydell McLaurin was 57 when his body was found on November 5, 2016, discarded between an abandoned house and its garage in the 500 block of West 39th Avenue in Gary, Indiana. The Lake County coroner ruled his death a homicide; he had been shot to death and the scene was reported as littered with debris.

In the months before his death, McLaurin was involved in a federal probe into a drug distribution conspiracy. He was arrested on October 17, 2016, at a house identified as a hub for the sale of crack cocaine. Testimony in the broader federal case, United States v. Walton, placed McLaurin entering the residence of a co-conspirator on the night he was killed and indicated he may have been held there at the direction of defendant Yahtzee Harris amid suspicions within the ring.

The indictment in the federal case charged several defendants with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine but did not charge anyone with McLaurin’s murder. The exact circumstances of his killing and the identity of the shooter or shooters remain unknown. Did anyone in Gary see McLaurin or activity at that house around November 5, 2016, that could help explain what happened?