On what should have been a hopeful day of new beginnings, 54-year-old Melisa Hansboro, a Black/African American female, was tragically found deceased in her Indianapolis home. It was June 1, 2023, the day she was supposed to be moving into a new residence, a task her family had gathered to help her with. When they arrived at her home on Spruce Street, they were met with a locked door and an unnerving silence.
Their concern grew when they found her car missing and could hear her phone ringing unanswered inside the house.
The family's mounting dread led them to force their way into the home. It was Hansboro's own 6-year-old grandson who made the devastating discovery, finding his grandmother unresponsive on the floor. An autopsy would later reveal that she had died from a single gunshot wound to the back of her neck, fired at close range. The scene spoke to a sudden and violent end to a life that was on the cusp of a fresh start.
Suspicion quickly fell upon Jerry Lewis, Hansboro's 64-year-old boyfriend with whom she was in the process of breaking up. Investigators learned the couple had been arguing prior to the murder. Cellphone records placed Lewis inside the home at the time of the shooting. In a telling move after the incident, Lewis went to a friend's house, confessed that he had 'messed up his life,' and asked for a ride to the police station. He was arrested on August 1, 2023, and subsequently charged with murder.
The legal proceedings against Jerry Lewis moved forward, culminating in a three-day jury trial in October 2025. The evidence presented was compelling enough for the jury to reach a guilty verdict in just over 30 minutes. On November 14, 2025, Jerry Lewis was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the murder of Melisa Hansboro, a final chapter in a senseless act of violence that cut short a woman's life and forever altered the lives of her loved ones.
