INDIANAPOLIS — A man has been arrested in connection with his nephew's shooting death on the south side of Indianapolis, police said.
Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to the 3600 block of Carson Avenue, near National Avenue, before noon Tuesday on a report of an unresponsive person.
According to a preliminary probable cause affidavit, officers found the body "in an advanced state of decomposition" and "completely covered in insect larvae."
The man, Darrell Hoagland, 47, was found wrapped in a blanket tied with rope, according to the affidavit.
He was dead at the scene, according to IMPD. An autopsy found he suffered gunshot wounds.
On Wednesday, IMPD homicide detectives arrested Hoagland's uncle, 52, and preliminarily charged him with murder, according to a press release from IMPD on Thursday. Formal charges haven't been filed yet by prosecutors, according to online court records.
In an interview with detectives, the man said he started arguing with his nephew and shot him on May24, according to the affidavit. After Hoagland was dead, the man wrapped his nephew in a blanket, tied the blanket with hemp rope from a cat toy, put Hoagland's body in the trunk of his car and dumped him in the yard of a vacant house.
On May 24, IMPD was called to an address on East Legrande Avenue after someone heard arguing and multiple gunshots in the area, according to the affidavit. This address is near Schiller Street, where Hoagland was shot. Officers who responded to the call "did not locate anything."
The incident is still under investigation and anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 317-327-3475 or report tips anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477) or online.
