Kadeisha Ross, 28, a Black woman from Lafayette, Indiana, was found dead on the morning of March 1, 2025, in an apartment at the Village Square Apartments on Cochise Trail. Officers were called to the address around 7:30 a.m. after a report of a possible death, and inside they discovered Ross and another woman, Laportia Shenett, also deceased. Investigators said the scene showed signs of gunfire, and detectives recovered shell casings along with evidence pointing to a small-caliber firearm.
As the first hours unfolded, police made it clear they did not believe the killings were random. The deaths occurred inside Shenett’s apartment on the building’s bottom floor, and investigators said the suspect was known to both victims. Police have said the suspect had a prior domestic relationship with Shenett, but they did not publicly clarify the relationship between Shenett and Ross.
In the days that followed, investigators traced their case to Seyene Vargas, identified as a Lafayette woman accused of killing both victims on the night of February 28, with the bodies not discovered until the next morning. Reporting on the investigation described detectives’ belief that the gun was taken apart and that pieces were hidden in multiple locations around Gary, Indiana—parts that investigators said they later recovered, reassembled, and tested, with ballistics testing indicating a match to the evidence from the apartment.
Vargas was arrested in Seattle, Washington, on March 16, 2025, by U.S. Marshals. She was charged with murder in connection with the deaths, along with obstruction of justice and false informing; additional reporting also described a firearm-related charge, including an alleged unlawful use of a firearm or a sentence-enhancing firearm allegation. As the case moved into court, the public record described prosecutors treating it as a major homicide prosecution that could carry an extremely long prison sentence if convictions are obtained.
