In the winter of 2025, the life of a promising Fort Wayne teenager was tragically cut short in what began as a transaction for a pair of shoes. Sincere Sole Thomas, a 17-year-old Black female, was a senior at Wayne High School with a bright future ahead of her. She was an excellent student, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and harbored dreams of becoming a fashion designer.
On the evening of February 10, 2025, Sincere made plans to meet 16-year-old Jamir Benson.
The arrangement was to exchange a gun for a pair of shoes. Feeling uneasy about the meeting, Sincere asked a witness to come along with her, confiding that she feared it might be a setup. Her premonition proved to be tragically accurate. The meeting took place at a playground at the Black Pine Flats apartment complex on Fayette Drive.
According to a witness, once Benson had the shoes, he shot Sincere and fled the scene with another individual. Fort Wayne police responded to reports of a shooting just before 8 p.m. and found Sincere unresponsive at the playground. She was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The Allen County Coroner's Office later confirmed that the cause of her death was a gunshot wound to the torso and officially ruled it a homicide. Her death marked the sixth homicide in Fort Wayne and Allen County for the year 2025.
The investigation led by the Fort Wayne Police Department, the Allen County Prosecutor's Office, and the Allen County Coroner's Office resulted in a swift arrest. Jamir Benson was taken into custody just before 3 a.m. the following day. He has since been charged as an adult with felony murder and robbery. Benson is currently being held without bond at the Allen County Jail as the legal proceedings in this tragic case continue.
