Between 6-20-08 at 11:00pm and 6-21-08 at 7:28am, unknown suspects broke into an Elkhart County Sheriff`s Department patrol car located within the city limits of Elkhart, IN.  The suspect(s) removed a Colt M-16 assault rifle from the car.  Please contact Crime Stoppers, or the Elkhart County Sheriff`s Department at (574) 533-8644 or (574) 533-4151 if you have any information.

Elkhart County Sheriff

On the night of September 12th, 2007, shortly before midnight, South Bend Police received a call of a woman screaming for help in the 800 block of East Indiana Street.  There, in Ravina Park near the jungle gym, officers discovered the partially nude body of a woman who was several months pregnant.  She was identified as 35-year old Melissa Shields, who was known to live on the south side of South Bend. 

Homicide investigators have determined that there were witnesses in the area.  One person has already been charged in connection with this death, but investigators and Crime Stoppers need your help to identify others. 

Thirty-five year old Kendrick Lamar Chapman was a blacksmith/artist and did his work out of a workshop located on his property at 66783 Kessington Road in Calvin Township, Cass County, Michigan.  On Sunday evening, June 24th, 2007 Kendrick left a phone message for a female friend, and was not heard from again. 

The next morning, a delivery truck arrived with a load of steel.  The driver found Kendrick Chapman laying on the floor of his workshop in a pool of blood.  An autopsy determined Kendrick died from a gunshot wound to the head.   

On December 29th, 1996 the skeletal remains of a female were discovered in a field in the 21000 block of Madison Road approximately 1/4 mile west of US31 in St. Joseph County, Indiana.  The body was apparently left nude as there was no clothing found at the scene. 

A forensic dental examination indicated the victim was congenitally missing the lateral incisors, otherwise the teeth were in good condition with just one filling, indicating regular dental care.  Anthropologists determined the female was between 20-35 years old, approximately 5`5", brown hair, Caucasian or possibly Hispanic.  It is estimated that the victim was deceased 1-2 years prior to the discovery of her remains. 

The remains were nicknamed "Madison" by an Anthropologist and the name stuck.  Pictured below is a clay reconstruction based on the skull.     

Homicide Investigator assigned to the case: tcameron@stjoepros.org

In June of 1985 a badly decomposed body was discovered  600 feet north of Cleveland Road in South Bend, behind what used to be the Howard Johnson Motel on State Road 933. 

The body was that of a male Caucasian estimated to be in his 20s, about 5`11" and 160 lbs.  He had long, light brown hair and a mustache.  He was wearing blue jeans, gray Addidas tennis shoes, and a green Army jacket.  The jacket bore a triangular emblem with the word "Spearhead" (emblem patch of the 3rd Armored Division, U.S. Army), and a patch above his right pocket with the letters "HOSEA" (uniform name identification tag of the U.S. Army soldier). 

The body is that of a homicide victim, cold case, and the victim`s identity is unknown.  He was found several weeks after his death and was not believed to have been murdered in that location.  Below is an artist`s sketch of what the victim may have looked like, and also a clay reconstruction based on bones of the skull.