INDIANAPOLIS — Three months after a woman was found dead outside in the cold behind a far east side business, her death is being called a homicide.
According to police, IMPD officers were called to an area near the corner of 38th St. and Mitthoeffer Road for an unresponsive person at 1:40 a.m. Feb. 19.
Officers found the woman, then called for medics, who pronounced her dead. The coroner later identified her as 50-year-old Shanel Smith.
Police originally said there were no obvious signs of trauma. The coroner classified the cause of death as "Environmental Cold Exposure" and added that it was a homicide.
Anyone with information about this incident should call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 (TIPS).
