UPDATE:
The body found on the east side has been identified as Jaime Beasley.
ORIGINAL STORY:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Police are investigating a case of potential human remains found on the city’s east side. According to IMPD, the case began with volunteers finding a body while out cleaning up their neighborhood for Earth Day, which is officially Sunday, April 22.
According to neighbors, the body was found along a creek that runs along the south side of E. 20th Street, near Riley Avenue.
The man who found it called police, and when officers arrived, they thought it was human remains and called in homicide detectives.
Detectives searched the area for evidence and are treating the case as a death investigation at this time.
“It’s a little scary to know that something could have happened so close to home and there’s body evidence or possible evidence of it,” said Carrie Hawk. “So, it’s a little scary. I have two children who I send on the bus and my son walks back and forth using the city bus.”
Joyce Cotham, who also lives nearby, brought down a bouquet of flowers to place near the creek. She said she thought the victim was a woman.
“She was somebody’s daughter, might have been someone’s mother, sister, this is just crazy,” Cotham said.
The news of Saturday’s discovery brought out Susanne Gill. Her sister, Jaime Beasley, was last seen a couple blocks away from the scene.
“It scares me because it’s so close to the house she went missing in,” Gill said. “We’ve checked here several times. Many people have checked here.”
According to Gill, Beasley was last heard from on December 15 of last year. The family has a makeshift memorial near where she was last seen and has posted fliers in the neighborhood asking for help.
“It’s not easy to say that I want it to be her, because I want the peace and I want her laid to rest,” Gill said. “If that is the case, then at the same time, how could someone do that to anybody and leave them like that.”
The Marion County Coroner’s Office will assist detectives in determining the exact manner and cause of death.
Police ask anyone with information to contact IMPD’s homicide office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
