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The town of Indianapolis, Indiana, witnessed a horrific incident on August 8, 1998, when Kasey Schoen used to be murdered in public. Although the investigation used to be quite challenging, there were relatively a couple of eyewitnesses to the murder, and the police believed they'd the true wrongdoer at the back of bars. Season Three of the podcast ‘Suspect’ takes the listener during the heinous murder and follows the next police investigation into the incident.

How Did Kasey Schoen Die?

A resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, Kasey Schoen was once handiest 25 at the time of his dying. Though he shared an excellent courting together with his family and friends, people who knew him described him as hardworking and beneficiant, treating everybody kindly and at all times ready to assist other folks in want. Moreover, Kasey was recognized for his amicable character as he attempted to stay buddies with maximum and had no identified enemies. On best of it, experiences point out that he had high aspirations for his future, that have been wiped away by means of his surprising and horrific murder.

While August 8, 1998, began as every other common day, Kasey was returning house at night time when he stopped his truck on 14th Street, close to Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis. That was once when bystanders heard five consequent gunshots wreck through the quietness of the night time as he slumped ahead at the steerage. It didn't take lengthy for other people to crowd across the truck; some even attempted to get to Kasey within the motive force’s seat, nevertheless it was too past due via then. The 25-year-old used to be already bleeding profusely from the bullet wounds, and as soon as first responders arrived on the scene, that they had no selection however to claim him useless. Later, an post-mortem made up our minds that Kasey died after being shot five instances from close vary.

Who Killed Kasey Schoen?

The initial investigation into Kasey’s murder used to be beautiful difficult as the police did not have any just right ends up in paintings with. While a thorough search of the crime scene published no evidence that might result in an immediate suspect, the detectives realized that his truck was once nonetheless running along with his foot at the spoil and the transmission in power, indicating that the victim had no plans of stopping at the location where he was shot. On most sensible of it, Kasey’s friends and family insisted that he did not have any recognized enemies and there wasn’t anyone who would want to hurt him in such a heinous way.

Nevertheless, investigators received their first important leap forward when a lady turning in newspapers to a vending system about one hundred fifty toes from the crime scene approached them. After claiming to be an eyewitness to the murder, she insisted she noticed a dark-skinned Black person take out a gun and hearth five pictures at Kasey Schoen. The woman additionally gave the impression confident enough to identify the offender and due to this fact singled out a person referred to as Leon Benson from a photographic lineup.

On the flip side, any other eyewitness claimed she saw a profession legal named Joseph Webster on the crime scene, and police data showed that authorities had arrested him from the similar neighborhood with several kilos of cocaine and a .38 caliber handgun. Yet, even supposing the handgun’s caliber matched the weapon used to kill Kasey, Joseph was once never investigated for his role within the murder. Instead, law enforcement officials enthusiastic about Leon Benson as they regarded as him the prime suspect in the case.

Quite unusually, aside from the newspaper girl picking Leon out of a photographic lineup, there was no evidence tying him to the crime. People who knew him claimed he used to be incapable of this kind of grotesque act, and detectives didn't find any forensic evidence that might tie him to the crime. Still, with the investigation continuing at a snail’s tempo, the police had no choice but to follow the original photographic identity, and they arrested Leon earlier than charging him with Kasey’s murder.

Leon Benson is a Free Man Today

When produced in courtroom, Leon insisted on his innocence and pleaded no longer to blame to the costs against him. Furthermore, while the prosecution had no forensic or physical proof against the accused, the woman who had to begin with recognized him from a lineup acknowledged that he was once lighter-skinned than the individual she saw on the crime scene. Yet, that testimony did little to modify the jury’s mind, as they convicted Leon of murder and sentenced him to Sixty one years in jail in 1999. During his time in jail, he remained firm on his declare of innocence or even petitioned to get his conviction overturned.

While Leon’s love for his daughter, Koby Bluitt, helped him throughout the difficult times, he claimed he even had to spend 9 years in solitary confinement and had not anything but religion to fall back on. Eventually, his pleas were heard in March 2023 when a judge set him unfastened after reviewing his case and exonerating him of all charges. Today, Leon is a loose man living together with his circle of relatives in Indianapolis, and the proof used in his exoneration issues to a different one that is most likely the true assassin. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, the police haven’t made any arrests, and Kasey Schoen’s murder remains unsolved.

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