Crime

"At the end of the day, I have to make some very tough decisions that will not sit well with people. But they'll understand why I made the decision and what my thinking was."

Editor’s Note, March 27, 2013: This article originally appeared in the July 2004 issue of IM alongside this feature story. In 2009, actor Johnny...

Though the ambush in Chicago cut short Dillinger’s crime spree and meteoric rise to fame, it sealed his reputation as one of the great bank robbers of all time. And his untimely, violent death made him an idol.

His knees cracked down onto the cold, hard concrete floor. Jarhead followed him with the still-warm barrel of the gun. Touched the rear of Dote's skull. ... Jarhead was restless and a bit worried. He hadn't beat on a bag since the robbery. He needed to expand his lungs. Feel some flesh give.

These are the shocking, headline-grabbing crimes from the 10 most notable killers, kidnappers, and thieves ever to prowl the underbelly of Indianapolis.

Men are the fulcrum. The epic takeaway—my thesis statement, if you will—is to use better judgment in choosing men.

What turned a simple robbery into a triple homicide remains an open question. If Raymond Adams indeed killed all three victims, why would the small-potatoes con man engage in such senseless savagery?

Co-author Bettie Cadou was a longtime reporter for The Indianapolis News and taught journalism at Butler University and IUPUI. After her death in 2002, she was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Brian D. Smith is a former IM senior editor.

Something just wasn’t right, and Connie Ballard knew it. Three weeks earlier, one of her best patrons, a kind, elderly man named Milt Lindgren, had come into her automotive-repair shop to tell her that he was planning a roadtrip, and that he wanted the oil changed in his van before he left. But he never returned to have the work done.