INDIANAPOLIS– An Indianapolis man has been sentenced to 140 years in prison for the 2023 murder and sexual assault of 15-year-old Janiya Carr.

Tevis Walker was sentenced after a Marion County jury found him guilty in September of murder, felony murder, two counts of rape and three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. Walker also pleaded guilty to a habitual offender sentencing enhancement.

Carr’s body was found Nov. 1, 2023, in a wooded area near the Carriage House East apartment complex on Indianapolis’ northeast side.

Carr had been reported missing several days earlier, on Oct. 28. She was last seen on surveillance video getting into a black Kia Optima registered to Walker around 4:30 a.m. that day.

Walker worked as a maintenance worker at the apartment complex, where he also lived.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage showing the vehicle returning to the complex and driving near the area where Carr’s body was later discovered. Video also showed Walker near the vehicle. Investigators later recovered Walker’s DNA from Carr.

During an interview with detectives, Walker said he picked up Carr to buy an iPad but claimed the seller never showed up. He told investigators he then drove her back to the apartment complex before asking for an attorney.

Walker was arrested Nov. 2, 2023.

Carr was a student at Arsenal Technical High School and was weeks away from her 16th birthday when she was killed.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said the sentence cannot undo the family’s loss but expressed hope it provides some comfort.

“Our prosecutors stood up for a young girl who could no longer stand up for herself and worked tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable,” Mears said.

INDIANAPOLIS — On Oct. 24, a 13-year-old was shot and killed in the early morning hours at an apartment complex on the north side of Indianapolis.

Mollie Wingard moved her family to Indianapolis in 2025, hoping to provide a fresh start for her 17-year-old son, who was struggling in Fort Wayne.

“I came here to save his life, and I end up losing a daughter,” said Wingard, who said she was asleep on the morning when she got the call her child had been shot around 4 a.m.

Wingard says her daughter, Andrea Eguia, snuck out to meet with friends. After the shooting, Eguia was rushed into surgery, but did not survive.

Now, Wingard says she can’t stand the idea of being in Eguia’s room because of the flood of memories.

“Her smile and the way she brought so much joy into my world…so much joy and I won’t get that joy no more,” said Wingard.

The family says they’re still working with police to figure out exactly what led up to Eguia’s death.

WISH-TV/WRTV reached out to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for an update on the case and was referred back to IMPD’s original homicide brief.

Wingard says no arrests have been made that she’s aware of.

Wingard has concerns about security at The Georgetown apartments, a 90-unit complex which is operated by the Indianapolis Housing Authority.

“She was not supposed to be at them apartments. Them apartments are not where I would want my daughter to be,” said Wingard.

The Rev. Charles Harrison is board president for the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, which patrols areas that are hotspots for youth-related violence. He says the recent spread of activity is concerning.

“It’s not as concentrated as it once was. It’s broader, which raises concerns about ‘How do we get a hold of this violence as a city and reduce the youth that are involved?’” said Harrison.

The reverend’s advice: People should speak out as soon as they notice troubling patterns or concerns involving youths.

“I think people need to be more willing to get involved and not say ‘That’s not my problem,’ because it should be a concern for all of us to make sure our young people are safe from violence in our city,” said Harrison.

Anyone with information about Eguia’s death was asked to reach out to IMPD or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana.

“Whoever did this, I hope they catch them. If it was an accident, just come forward. I want my baby to have justice,” said Wingard.

• Family remembers 13-year-old girl killed in north Indianapolis apartment shooting

SHERIDAN, Ind. —  A Sheridan adventure park that opened this summer is adding winter activities, including snow tubing, ice skating and a three-story ropes course.

Skylake Adventures opened in June on former farmland with white-sand beaches and water slides. For its winter season, the park is adding snow tubing on what it describes as Hamilton County’s highest point, an ice skating rink and the ropes course.

The Winter Adventures will also feature a walk-through holiday light trail and a vendor village with food and treats, organizers said.

“The number one thing, I want them to feel welcome. I want them to feel that this is a place, a safe place, that they can come and laugh and play together. For us, for kids of all ages and all abilities to get together, and this is really something that we feel is important and we feel they will have a wonderful time,” said Sean Howard, a co-founder of Skylake Adventures.

Annual passes purchased for the summer season also cover winter activities.

Tickets for Winter Adventures are available through the park’s website.

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Braun on Thursday said Republicans lost heavily Tuesday night because Democrats effectively focused voters on affordability, and he called the results a wake-up call for his party.

Republicans lost 16 seats in the Indiana House of Representatives and five in the Senate. They also lost the secretary of state and state comptroller offices, the 5th Congressional District seat and dozens of county and township offices, including in longtime Republican strongholds such as Hamilton County.

In his first public comments since the election, Braun said Republicans did not do enough nationally to address affordability issues.

“We had issues at the national level that had people burdened and I’ve been the loudest voice of any governor on affordability,” he said. “Here, where you’ve got a political dynamic that’s different, it would beg the question, why didn’t you do more before? And I view what occurred there as a wakeup call and an opportunity.”

Braun said he did not consider the results a referendum on his first two years in office. He pointed to steps he has taken on affordability, including suspending the gas tax in response to the war with Iran and signing property tax legislation in 2025.

“If you weren’t seeing that the lower third of the economy, which was clear to me, their incomes weren’t catching up with inflation from the prior administration,” he said. “They were cranky, irritable and we did not read that well.”

Democrats have said Republicans’ narrower majorities will require more bipartisan policymaking. House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, a Fort Wayne Democrat, said Wednesday he believes that could lead to better legislation.

Braun said Thursday he is willing to work with Democrats if they bring forward ideas he considers worthwhile on property taxes, utility bills, affordable housing and health care.

“I’m going to take all good ideas. Hopefully, we’re taking this opportunity and we’re doing more with it, to where, where we were before, politically, I think actually, the supermajorities may have hurt us there,” he said. “We’re the state that came through it the best, I think nationally, when you look at the carnage across the landscape.”

Braun also endorsed Secretary of State-elect Beau Bayh’s plan to order an outside audit of the secretary of state’s office. The proposal follows controversies involving outgoing Secretary of State Diego Morales.

Asked whether he supported Bayh’s plan, Braun said, “A hundred percent.”

“Whenever it comes to audits and transparency, I’m going to be for them,” Braun said. “Remember, again I replaced the entire (Indiana Economic Development Corporation) board. Then we had to do a forensic audit, most of which we incorporated.”

State lawmakers will meet at the Statehouse on Nov. 17 for Organization Day, when they will be sworn in and elect a House speaker and Senate president pro tempore. They will return to the Statehouse in January for the legislative session.

INDIANAPOLIS — A former Kokomo police officer was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him of depriving a 14-year-old girl of her civil rights, witness tampering and destroying records, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Sinmi Asomuyide, 33, will serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence. A jury found him guilty in June 2026 after a five-day trial.

According to court documents and trial evidence, Asomuyide first met the girl on June 30, 2024, while working as a patrol officer for the Kokomo Police Department. Her father called 911 earlier that day to report her missing as a runaway. Asomuyide and another officer found her at the home of another underage girl.

After taking the girl into custody, Asomuyide drove her to the Kinsey Youth Center. Court records say he violated department policy by turning off his body camera as he entered the facility’s sallyport garage. He also took the girl’s cellphone and used it to call his personal TextNow number before questioning her about her sexual history.

During a pat-down, Asomuyide found a vape pen in the girl’s back pocket. At the youth center, he took her to a side room and told her he would contact her later to return the vape pen.

A family friend picked the girl up from the youth center at her father’s direction. As she left, she sent Asomuyide the username for one of her social media accounts. He asked for her TikTok username. They continued texting that evening while Asomuyide finished his shift. The girl believed he intended to return her vape pen, court documents said.

Later that evening, Asomuyide returned to the police station and requested overtime, saying he would complete paperwork from 10 p.m. to midnight, according to court documents. Instead, he left the station to pick up the girl. Wearing his police uniform, he went to the family friend’s apartment and demanded to speak with her privately to determine where she should stay.

Asomuyide handcuffed the girl in the back of his squad car and drove to an empty warehouse parking lot, according to evidence from the car’s GPS data. He removed the handcuffs, moved her to the front seat and sexually assaulted her, court documents said. He then handcuffed her again and drove her back to the apartment complex.

The girl told family members and law enforcement about the assault, prompting an Indiana State Police investigation. During a forensic examination of Asomuyide’s patrol vehicle, investigators found a dried semen stain on the center console that matched his DNA, according to court evidence.

About a week after the assault, state police detectives interviewed Asomuyide. He falsely said he had not given the girl his phone number and suggested she might have overheard him reciting it to a Kinsey Youth Center employee, court documents said. He also said she had contacted him on a work phone, although Kokomo officers are not issued work phones.

A forensic examination of Asomuyide’s cellphone showed that within hours of the assault, he searched phrases including “how to delete text me account” and “TextNow delete account,” according to court evidence.

Before joining the Kokomo Police Department, Asomuyide worked as an officer for the Portsmouth Police Department in Virginia. He resigned after an allegation that he had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old while off duty, according to court documents. When he later applied to work in Kokomo, he misrepresented the reason for his resignation, saying he had been forced to leave because he was “hanging out” with a 17-year-old girl who told him she was 19.

“The Department of Justice takes civil rights abuses seriously, including those committed by the small minority of police officers that betray public trust,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “This defendant will be held accountable for the kidnapping and sexual abuse of a child. We hope the victim will be able to recover and prosper despite this horrific episode.”

“This defendant exploited the badge in one of the worst ways imaginable,” said Tom Wheeler, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “What makes these crimes particularly disturbing is that he used the very tools, training, and authority entrusted to him as a police officer not only to assault a vulnerable child, but to try to conceal it. The evidence told a different story, and today’s sentence sends a clear message that no one can use the authority of the badge as a shield from accountability.”

“The very people entrusted with protecting children must never become the ones who victimize them. This defendant preyed on a 14-year-old girl and then attempted to cover up his crimes,” said Timothy J. O’Malley, FBI Indianapolis special agent in charge. “That kind of calculated abuse is unconscionable. The FBI remains committed to protecting children and relentlessly pursuing those who prey on them.”

“The Indiana State Police aggressively investigates crimes committed against children, especially when perpetrated by individuals placed in positions of immense trust,” said Capt. Ron Galaviz, the agency’s chief public information officer. “It is unconscionable that someone in authority would abuse their power for personal gratification at the expense of an innocent child. We remain steadfast in our commitment to holding these abusers accountable and protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities.”

The FBI’s Indianapolis Division and Indiana State Police investigated the case. Chief U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II imposed the sentence.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s Board of Trustees unanimously elected University of Arkansas System President Jay B. Silveria as the university’s 14th president Thursday. Silveria will succeed Mitch Daniels on Feb. 1, 2027. Daniels has served as interim president since July.

Silveria, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, has led the University of Arkansas System since January 2025. He previously served as associate vice president and executive director of Texas A&M University and the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington from 2020 to 2024. He was superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy from 2017 to 2020.

“I am honored to become the next president of Purdue University, one of the top public research universities in the country,” Silveria said. “While I am familiar with Purdue’s worldwide reputation for affordability and accessibility, ingenuity and integrity, I look forward to meeting the people who make this place so special and to listen and learn about its culture.

“As Indiana’s land-grant research university, Purdue has a responsibility to pursue academic excellence while using its knowledge, research and graduates to advance the state and serve society. I look forward to meeting that responsibility by supporting outstanding faculty, staff and researchers; helping students succeed; mobilizing resources; building partnerships; and connecting institutional goals and outcomes to public value.

“I am excited for the opportunity to meet and work alongside faculty, students, staff, alumni, industry collaborators and the people of Indiana.”

Purdue Board of Trustees Chair Gary Lehman said Silveria’s career shows a commitment to preparing people and organizations for consequential work.

“Jay’s career reflects a consistent commitment to preparing people and organizations to accomplish consequential missions. His strength is in the combination of his experiences, rather than any single position. This combination brings us a leader who has operated in environments that require disciplined execution, developed future leaders, built an educational enterprise in an urban setting and taken responsibility for a broad public higher-education mission. The board is excited to welcome Jay as Purdue’s next president, and we look forward to working with him to advance our mission,” Lehman said.

The University of Arkansas System enrolls more than 80,000 students and employs more than 30,000 people. It includes a flagship land-grant research university, a medical sciences campus, regional universities, community colleges, a law school, and agricultural and other public-service divisions. Silveria’s work required him to understand the institutions’ different missions while advancing shared goals. The system’s strategic priorities include access, student success, innovation and discovery, responsible stewardship, statewide responsiveness and collaboration.

“The University of Arkansas System’s mission explicitly connects education, scholarship and service with the economic, health and cultural advancement of Arkansas. Its agricultural and extension work reaches communities across the state,” Silveria said. “Purdue’s land-grant mission similarly connects education and research with public engagement and the needs of Indiana. The common principle is that a public university’s value is measured not only by its academic reputation but also by what its knowledge and graduates contribute to society.”

At Texas A&M, Silveria was tasked with launching a graduate-school enterprise in Washington. The work required coordination among academic leaders, faculty, administrators, students and outside partners. The Bush School connects students with institutions, practitioners and policy debates relevant to their studies, the university said.

As superintendent of the Air Force Academy, Silveria led an institution whose mission includes academics, military preparation, athletics and character development. Purdue said that experience gave him a foundation for understanding how universities can align their culture, resources and programs around student development and prepare graduates to contribute to society.

During his military career, Silveria served as deputy commander of the Combined Air Force Component at U.S. Central Command in Southwest Asia. He oversaw command and control of air operations across a 20-nation area. Operations Resolute Support in Afghanistan and Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria took place under his command.

He also commanded the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and served as vice commander of the 14th Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He was director of security assistance at the Office of Security Cooperation in Baghdad, Iraq. Silveria also commanded a fighter wing, an air operations center and a fighter squadron. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, a Bronze Star and multiple Air Medals.

Silveria grew up in an Air Force family and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1985. He completed undergraduate pilot training in 1986. He is a command pilot with more than 3,900 hours flying T-37, T-38, F-15C/E, HH-60 and F-35A aircraft. He has flown combat missions over the Balkans and Iraq.

He earned a master’s degree in social science from Syracuse University and master’s degrees from Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington.

Purdue is a research university ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities, according to the university. More than 111,000 students attend Purdue across its campuses, including more than 57,000 at its main campuses in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Purdue said its main campus has frozen tuition for 14 consecutive years, supporting its commitment to affordability and accessibility and allowing more students to graduate debt-free.

INDIANAPOLIS— About 240 children in Indiana’s foster care system are waiting for adoptive homes, with older children, sibling groups and those with more complex needs often facing longer waits for permanent placement.

The average age of children waiting for adoption is 12 to 13 years old, according to the Indiana Department of Child Services.

November is National Adoption Month, an opportunity to highlight the need for permanent, loving homes for children in foster care and encourage more families to consider adoption.

“As an adoptive parent, I know how special this month is,” DCS Director Jennifer Dorfmeyer said. “At DCS, we are committed to making sure every child in Indiana thrives in a safe, loving, forever home.”

DCS plans to share resources and information throughout the month to help prospective adoptive families better understand the process and prepare to welcome a child into their home.

“Creating a family through adoption is a life-changing act that has a lasting impact on the kids who are adopted, the families they become a part of and the communities they join,” Gov. Mike Braun said.

Braun signed a proclamation recognizing November as Adoption Month in Indiana during a ceremony at the Statehouse Thursday. The Carman family, whose family was created through adoption, attended the signing along with state officials.

DCS encourages families who can provide supportive and loving homes to consider adoption, particularly for older children and sibling groups who may spend more time waiting for placement.