Woman killed in hit-and-run on Keystone Avenue; family searches for answers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A family is no closer to getting answers after they say someone hit and killed their loved one and left her lying there.

Emily Johnson’s family says she was much more than just some unknown victim and they need the community’s help to find who’s responsible.

One thing for certain, Emily Johnson loved her family and life. Family members say, even at 67 years old, she had no problem getting on her bike and going where she needed. They say she was almost back home riding her bike Saturday at 33rd Street and Keystone Avenue when someone hit her and left her there.

“It stings with a twist. It’s like a knot. Knowing that somebody could do a human like that,” said Johnson’s niece Tiara Reeves.

This is a family very much in mourning. And is desperately searching and praying for answers. Nearly one week ago, while riding her bike near 33rd and keystone when someone hit 67-year-old Johnson and kept going.

“That’s what really touched my heart. They didn’t stop,” said Johnson’s brother Emmitt Johnson. “Because accident is an accident. And from there on when they didn’t stop look what it turns into.”

Just hours before she’d done her normal routine: riding her bike to pick up dinner at the family restaurant Garrett’s Smokehouse Barbecue.

“When I got the phone call and they said that she was gone. I was like gone? What do you mean. She just called me,” said her niece Krisma Garrett.

Family members say Johnson was much more than someone killed in a hit and run. She was a loving part of this family. And this loss is almost too much to bear.

“And it’s a hurting thing because we actually got to see her laying there. To think that you just left her. You know what kind of person are you,” said sister Sylvia Baker.

They say her impact didn’t just touch the family. It touched the community. A graduate of Broad Ripple high school, she made waves there too by becoming the first Black cheerleader and first Black prom queen.

“Once again that just played it to her personality. I mean so many things that we found out about her since she’s passed,” said Garrett. “People that have reached out because or hearts she has touched.”

Police haven’t’ made any arrest yet, but this family is speaking directly to the person responsible or those who know who’s responsible.

“To the person that hit her. If she was your sister or your mom or auntie or whatever, you would not have wanted them to leave them like that,” said Baker.

The family will hold a balloon release at noon Sunday at 33rd and Keystone to remember Johnson’s life.