A beloved mother and daughter are brutally murdered in their Indianapolis home In the late summer of 1987, a quiet neighborhood in Indianapolis was shaken by the brutal murders of 56-year-old Mary McCarty and her 21-year-old daughter, Vicki. The two women were found bludgeoned to death in their home on Radford Drive on September 25, 1987. Mary, a hardworking and introverted bookkeeper at Community East Hospital, was looking forward to a quieter life, having recently sold their house and preparing to move into an apartment with Vicki.
She was a woman who enjoyed simple pleasures like watching 'The Love Boat' and 'Magnum, P.I.', playing the mandolin, and painting.
The discovery was made by Mary's niece and her husband who, after being unable to reach them by phone, went to the house. Peering through a window, they saw a grim scene and upon entering, found the bodies of Mary and Vicki. Investigators believe Mary was attacked and killed in her sleep, while Vicki was confronted and murdered in the hallway. The suspected murder weapon, a bloody hammer, was found near the bodies. Despite the violent nature of the crime, there were few signs of a struggle, and nothing appeared to have been stolen from the home; both women's purses, containing money, were untouched. Mary's 1987 Chevy Cavalier was missing from the driveway and has never been recovered.
The primary suspect in the double homicide was Vicki's 26-year-old boyfriend, a man she had met at Ivy Tech Community College where she was a student. He was known to law enforcement, with a criminal record that included bank robbery, and was believed to be involved in car theft and drug-related activities. A day before the murders, he had reportedly proposed to Vicki, a proposal she had rejected. After the killings, he seemingly vanished, with his last known location being Panama City, Florida, on the same day the bodies were discovered.
Despite being the prime suspect, Vicki's boyfriend was never charged in connection with the McCarty murders. He was eventually arrested for bank robbery years later and served time in prison. Upon his release, his whereabouts became unknown. The investigation into the deaths of Mary and Vicki McCarty fell to the Marion County Sheriff's Department and was eventually moved to the Indianapolis Police Department's Cold Case Unit in 2007. Over the years, DNA evidence from the crime scene has been retested in the hopes that technological advancements could provide new leads. However, the case remains unsolved, leaving a lingering question of who was responsible for the violent end to the lives of a quiet mother and her vibrant daughter.
