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IMPD: 15-year-old boy who fled car theft scene found dead in pond

IMPD: 15-year-old boy who fled car theft scene found dead in pond

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The body of a 15-year-old boy was pulled from a retention pond Wednesday, near the scene of where two people were apprehended March 24 in a car theft, Indianapolis police said Friday.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office on Thursday identified the 15-year-old as Kaeden Swanigan. His cause and manner of death were pending.

Just after 6:30 p.m. March 24, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was sent to a reported car theft in the 3900 block of Shadow Pointe Lane. That’s in the Shadow Pointe housing subdivision southeast of the intersection of West 56th Street and Guion Road. It’s west of the Saddlebrook Golf Club on the city’s northwest side.

Officers found the car with three occupants and followed it to the nearby Village Trace neighborhood, which sits along I-65 north of West 38th Street. It’s accessible off Guion Road. The car’s occupants ran when police arrived, but officers eventually caught two of them. IMPD has not publicly identified the two but says that one of them, the driver, was arrested for theft of a motor vehicle, resisting law enforcement, and reckless driving.

“Based on body-worn camera and officer statements, officers did not chase the third passenger,” said a notification sent from IMPD on Friday.

The car was later returned to its owner.

On March 25, a mother called IMPD about her missing son and requested a runaway report. IMPD had no indication her son was in any danger, and he’d previously left home in a similar fashion.

By Wednesday, new information supplied to IMPD led officers to “a retention pond close to the original scene,” the notification said.

Conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources found Kaeden dead in the water.

IMPD says Kaeden is believed to be the third occupant who was in the stolen car.

The death investigation is being handled by IMPD’s Critical Incident Response Team, police say. 

Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475.

This story was updated to correct some dates.

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