IMPD arrests 2 teen boys, 3 adults for December kidnapping, murder

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two teenage boys from Indianapolis have been arrested for their involvement in the December kidnapping and murder of a man on the city’s near-east side, police say.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Monday announced the arrest of the two teenagers for the Dec. 8 murder of 28-year-old Corbin Rogers..

D’Sean Bigbee-Cummings, 17, was arrested Thursday. Daniel Jackson, 16, turned himself in on Friday, IMPD says. Online court records show each teen was charged with murder, kidnapping for ransom, and kidnapping while armed with a deadly weapon. Bigbee-Cummings will be formally charged in Marion Superior Court 27 on Tuesday afternoon. Jackson will be formally charged in the same court on Wednesday morning.

Investigators have not said how the two teenagers were involved in Rogers’ abduction and death.

Homicide detectives have identified five suspects in the case, including the two teenagers. On Dec. 14, officers arrested 35-year-old Christina Clark, 29-year-old Josselyn Johnson, and 21-year-old Jaheim Miller on preliminary charges of murder and kidnapping.

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Police found Rogers’ body while investigating a burglary in the 100 block of North Euclid Avenue. That’s in the Bosart Brown neighborhood near Washington Street and Sherman Drive on the city’s near-east side.

Dispatchers told officers at the scene that maintenance workers at an apartment complex chased the burglary suspects to a vacant house. Police police entered the house andf found Rogers lying in a pool of blood. The Marion County Coroner’s Office said he had been shot multiple times and ruled his death a homicide.

One day after Rogers’ body was found, IMPD learned that someone had called his grandmother using his cell phone on the afternoon of Dec. 7. The woman said that when she answered, she could hear Rogers begging for $5,000 and a woman yelling about a car that had been stolen.

Rogers’ grandmother told investigators she received a text message that included a photo of Rogers being held at gunpoint by two men. Another text message said Rogers would be dead if the hostage-takers did not receive the money.

Rogers’ girlfriend told police she received a video on Facebook from a woman who said they were holding Rogers hostage. She also said the last time she spoke to Rogers was at around 2 p.m. on Dec. 7.

Investigators believe Rogers was taken hostage as part of a dispute over a missing vehicle.

“Corbin was attempting to sell the car to Witness 5 on behalf of Kristina [sic] Clark. They stopped at a gas station and Corbin went inside at which time Witness 5 drove off with the car, a black Nissan Altima,” court documents state. “Corbin told Witness 2 he called Clark and told her Witness 5 stole the Nissan and Clark told Corbin that she would kill him if he did not return the car. As Witness 2 spoke with Corbin, she heard a vehicle pull up and heard a female yelling at Corbin, at which time the call disconnected.”

The man identified in court documents as Witness 5 told police that he and Rogers had borrowed the Nissan Altima from Clark.

“They went to a nearby gas station and Corbin asked him to take the Nissan and park it in the apartment complex across the street from Baltimore Apartments,” court documents state. “Witness 5 took the car and parked it in the Blackburn Terrace Apartments. Witness 5 got back into the pickup truck he drove there and left.”

The witness said he then started receiving threatening calls from Clark, accusing him of stealing his car.

On Dec. 14, police pulled over a vehicle containing Clark, Johnson, and Miller.

Court documents accessed by News 8 do not indicate that any of the three suspects arrested on Dec. 14 admitted to killing Rogers.

Anyone with information was asked to contact Detective Daniel Smith at the IMPD Homicide Office by calling 317-327-3475 or by email.