Investigators say tips from the community and follow-up interviews led to a murder charge less than two days after Kimberly Stewart was found behind her west-side home.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Indianapolis police arrested a 45-year-old man in the killing of a woman found dead behind a home on the city’s west side, saying he was taken into custody within hours of her death and later charged after detectives gathered more evidence.
Kimberly Stewart, 51, was found unresponsive in the backyard of a home in the 1300 block of South Lynhurst Drive just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, and medics pronounced her dead at the scene. By early Thursday, police said Travis Wolfe had been charged in the case after what investigators described as an intense, fast-moving homicide inquiry. The case drew attention because of how quickly officers moved from the discovery of Stewart’s body to an arrest, with police crediting community cooperation, interviews and physical evidence for helping build the case.
The investigation began late Tuesday when officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Southwest District were sent to Stewart’s address on a report of a deceased person. When they arrived, police found Stewart lying behind the house with injuries that authorities said were consistent with trauma. Early public statements were careful and limited. Investigators said only that homicide detectives were taking over the case and that one person had been detained at the scene and later released. Stewart’s identity was later confirmed by the Marion County Coroner’s Office. In the first hours after the body was found, the most important facts remained simple and stark: a woman was dead in her own yard, detectives were treating the case as a homicide, and police were moving quickly to sort out who had been with her and what had happened in the final hours before officers arrived.
As detectives retraced Stewart’s last known movements, the picture sharpened. Police said Wolfe, 45, became the focus of the case and was found near East 19th Street and North Drexel Avenue, miles from the house where Stewart was discovered. Officers first arrested him on an active warrant in a separate case involving unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Police said SWAT officers helped take him into custody less than three hours after Stewart’s death. That quick arrest did not immediately settle the homicide case, however. Detectives continued interviewing witnesses and reviewing what they learned from the scene. According to accounts later tied to the probable cause affidavit, a friend of Stewart’s alerted police to the death and gave investigators information about Wolfe, the couple’s arguments and a pattern of threatening behavior that detectives considered important as they tried to establish motive, timing and the possible weapon used.
By the time an autopsy was completed, investigators had a clearer explanation for Stewart’s injuries. A forensic pathologist determined that she died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries. The affidavit said those injuries were consistent with a dull ax or the blunt side of an ax, a detail that added weight to witness statements already in the case file. The same affidavit said Stewart’s friend told police Wolfe used methamphetamine, often carried an ax and threatened people nearby. The friend described him as a “psychopathic maniac,” language that reflected fear and anger but also showed the kind of prior-behavior evidence detectives were hearing from people who knew the couple. Wolfe denied striking Stewart with an ax, according to the affidavit, but investigators said they found traces of blood in the passenger seat and backseat of the vehicle he had been driving, a vehicle that belonged to Stewart. Officers also reported seeing blood on a concrete step and on a pair of bib overalls.
Police and local media accounts suggest the case moved forward on two tracks at once: one public and one procedural. Publicly, the department released only the broad outline as detectives worked. Behind the scenes, investigators were assembling witness statements, results from the autopsy, and observations from the scene and the car. That step-by-step process appears to have made the difference between Wolfe’s initial arrest on the outstanding firearm warrant and the later murder charge. Stewart’s friend also told investigators that Stewart and Wolfe argued often, giving detectives more context about the relationship. Some details still have not been made public. Authorities have not publicly laid out a full minute-by-minute timeline of Stewart’s final hours, said exactly when investigators believe she was attacked, or explained whether any other witnesses saw the assault. Police also have not publicly disclosed whether they recovered an ax believed to have been used in the killing.
The case unfolded in a part of Indianapolis near Rockville Road and Interstate 465, an area where homes, businesses and major streets sit close together, making the discovery all the more jarring for neighbors and first responders. A woman found dead outdoors behind a residence creates an immediate sense of visibility and vulnerability, even before police explain the circumstances. That is one reason Deputy Chief Kendale Adams emphasized both the speed of the investigation and the role of the public after detectives announced the arrest. “Thanks to the relentless work of our detectives and the courage of the community, a dangerous individual is in custody today,” Adams said. He added that investigators would pursue every lead and work with residents to hold violent offenders accountable. His statement underscored a broader point in the case: police say witness cooperation and neighborhood information were not just helpful, but central to the quick break in the investigation.
The legal process is now shifting from the urgent first stage of a homicide investigation to the slower, more formal work of prosecution. Police said Wolfe faces a preliminary murder charge, while the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for making the final charging decision and filing the case in court. His separate firearm warrant could also remain part of the legal picture. In practical terms, that means prosecutors will review the affidavit, the autopsy findings, any physical evidence collected from the house and car, and the statements taken from Stewart’s friends or other witnesses. Defense arguments, court dates and plea information had not been publicly laid out in the initial reports. What is known is that police say their investigation spanned less than two days from the discovery of Stewart’s body to the murder charge, an unusually compressed timeline for a case that still may depend on forensic testing, follow-up interviews and disclosure of additional records in court.
For now, Stewart’s death remains both a personal loss and a public case file still taking shape. The woman found in the yard late Tuesday has been identified, a suspect is in custody, and detectives say the early evidence points to a violent killing rather than an unexplained death. Yet several parts of the story remain open, including whether more evidence will be released at a first court appearance and whether prosecutors will add or adjust charges once the case is formally filed. The next major milestone is expected to come when the prosecutor’s office confirms the final charges and a court hearing is scheduled.
Author note: Last updated March 13, 2026.