INDIANAPOLIS — Two men are in jail in Marion County accused of a pair of cold case killings in Indianapolis.
Officials with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday that although the two cases aren’t connected, they prove investigators never give up trying to solve crimes no matter how many years might pass.
After being shot and crashing his SUV into a parked car in December 2018 at the Carriage House East apartments along East 42nd Street, 23-year-old Christopher Buckhalter lived just long enough to tell police his name and that he knew he was about to die.
Surveillance cameras at the scene allegedly captured the shooting, but no arrests were made. In 2019, the victim’s mother spoke out about the unsolved killing.
PREVIOUSLY: Mother calls for courage to solve son’s killing
“I have to stay on it because I want this person or persons off the street,” said Jacqueline Buckhalter in 2019.
Court records show the initial detective eventually retired in 2021 and the case then went to IMPD’s unsolved homicide unit. With the help of witnesses, police identified Genesis Penn as the shooter.