Azya Knowles was 20 when she was found on the evening of February 11, 2015, inside a pickup truck near the City-County Building in downtown Indianapolis. She was taken to a hospital on life support and died two days later; an autopsy confirmed multiple gunshot wounds. Initially her organs were kept viable for donation.

The truck’s driver, William Smith, gave investigators a story that unknown assailants had chased and shot at them on the Near Westside, but physical evidence at the scene and on the vehicle did not support that account and police found no sign a shooting had occurred where he claimed. A handgun was recovered from Smith when he was detained and about $30,000 in cash was found in the truck. A friend of Knowles testified that Knowles had said Smith had once pulled a gun on her and that in the days before her death she had seemed off and had spent three straight days at Smith’s house.

William Smith was charged with Knowles’s murder and other offenses. In March 2016 a jury found him guilty of murder, carrying a handgun without a permit and possession of marijuana; he was sentenced to 62 years. If anyone knew Azya or has information about her last days, please share what you can.