INDIANAPOLIS — Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was found dead with trauma at a downtown Indianapolis apartment Wednesday afternoon.
Around 2 p.m. Sept. 25, IMPD officers responded to the 500 block of Massachusetts Avenue, near East Michigan Street, to conduct a welfare check.
Officers found a man inside an apartment with apparent trauma. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and homicide detectives are now investigating the incident.
On Sept. 26, the Marion County Coroner's Office identified the man as 65-year-old Forest Hill Jr.
His family is shocked and upset to hear the news.
"My brother meant the world to me" said Sherece Hill, Forest's sister.
Sherece got the call around 3 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 that someone killed her brother.
"I got that that call from my favorite nephew. I knew it was something wrong," Sherece said.
Sherece said she last talked to Forest on Tuesday.
"I will talk to him every single day, except for yesterday," Sherece said.
Forest's sister said she was told a person claiming to be his nephew called police telling them to do a welfare check when she asked her nephew if he made that call — he says he did not. Now, she wants to know who it was that called police.
"I want to get to the bottom of it," Sherece said. "Because whoever called and asked for a wellness check, you're not my nephew. So who are you?"
Sherece says Forest was beaten.
"I could tell he was probably walking around because it's drops of blood everywhere," Sherece said. "Then, I can tell he probably just laid down because that's where they said they finally met laying in the bed."
Forest's family is no stranger to tragedy — they have lost multiple family members within the last few years
His niece, Shanta Lewis, says this hurts.
"I don't know how to feel right now. It hurts. I just don't know how to feel. I mean, it's like repeatedly, repeatedly, and we're losing people," Lewis said.
IMPD has not shared any additional information on the circumstances of Forest's death.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Det. David Miller at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or David.Miller2@indy.gov.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.