Police said Travis Wolfe, 45, was charged after Kimberly Stewart was found dead near South Lynhurst Drive.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A man was charged with murder early Thu., March 12, after Indianapolis police said a 51-year-old woman was found dead in a backyard on the city’s west side less than two days earlier.
The charge marked a swift turn in the investigation into the death of Kimberly Stewart, whose body was found late Tuesday in the 1300 block of South Lynhurst Drive near Rockville Road and Interstate 465. Police said Stewart was pronounced dead at the scene after officers found her with trauma injuries. By early Thursday, detectives had identified Travis Wolfe, 45, as the suspect and said the case had moved from an overnight homicide response to a filed murder allegation. The speed of that shift suggested investigators were able to combine evidence from the scene, interviews and public tips quickly enough to narrow the case within hours.
Investigators said Stewart was found unresponsive in the backyard of a home just before 11 p.m. Tue., March 10. In the first public stage of the case, police disclosed only a few details: Stewart’s age, the west-side location, the visible trauma and the fact that one person had been detained at the scene and later released. That left open major questions about where the fatal assault began, whether the backyard was the original scene of the killing and how Stewart came to be at the property. Homicide detectives continued working through Wednesday, and by just before 1 a.m. Thursday police announced that Wolfe had been charged with Stewart’s murder after what authorities described as additional interviews and community tips.
Police also said Wolfe had first been taken into custody on a separate warrant for unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. According to the public account released by local media and police, officers located him near East 19th Street and North Drexel Avenue less than three hours after Stewart’s death. IMPD said the arrest involved help from its SWAT team. That sequence matters because it shows investigators were dealing with two tracks at once: immediately securing a suspect on an existing legal basis while continuing to develop the homicide case tied to Stewart’s death. It also helps explain why the person first detained in the early hours of the investigation was not necessarily the same as the person ultimately charged with murder.
The charge gave the case a clearer legal path, but it did not answer every question. Police had not publicly described a motive, a relationship between Stewart and Wolfe, the specific evidence tying him to the killing or the exact cause of death as determined by the Marion County Coroner’s Office. Those missing details are common at the moment a murder charge is announced, especially before prosecutors file a probable-cause affidavit or a court hearing lays out more of the case record. For now, the known facts are narrower: Stewart was found dead behind a home, Wolfe was arrested first on another warrant, and detectives later said enough evidence had been gathered to support a murder charge.
Officials framed the arrest as both a detective success and a community-assisted breakthrough. IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams said, “Thanks to the relentless work of our detectives and the courage of the community, a dangerous individual is in custody today.” The statement underscored how much investigators rely on witness cooperation, neighborhood contacts and tips in the first day after a killing, especially when a case begins with limited public information. Police asked anyone with additional information to keep contacting Detective Michal Dinnsen or Crime Stoppers, an indication that even after a charge is filed, detectives may still be building out the case for prosecutors and preparing for later court proceedings.
For Stewart’s relatives, the filing of a charge did not change the basic reality that a loved one had been killed. Family members had already begun mourning her publicly while the investigation was still open and uncertain. One tribute described Stewart as someone whose loss would be felt deeply, using the line, “The world has lost one of its brightest lights.” In many homicide cases, that kind of remembrance reaches the public before any court record does, offering the first personal picture of the victim while legal proceedings focus on evidence, custody status and charging decisions. It also highlights the split-screen nature of violent crime reporting: a family’s grief on one side, and the state’s methodical legal process on the other.
The next steps are likely to unfold in court rather than at the scene on Lynhurst Drive. A murder charge opens the door to an initial hearing, formal review by prosecutors, public filing materials that may describe witness statements or physical evidence, and possible later motions about detention, evidence handling and trial scheduling. Police have not publicly released those details yet, and the coroner’s office still stood as the authority on the precise cause and manner of Stewart’s death. Until those records emerge, the public account remains a compressed timeline: an emergency call late Tuesday, a suspect located within hours, and a murder charge announced before dawn Thursday.
As of Thu., March 12, Wolfe had been publicly identified as the charged suspect in Stewart’s death, with court filings and future hearings expected to provide the next concrete details in the case.
Author note: Last updated March 12, 2026.