On the morning of Sunday, December 4, 2022, Gamia Lechelle Stuart, a 37-year-old African American female resident of Evansville, Indiana, was tragically killed outside her home. Law enforcement officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of Clayton Avenue around 9:00 a.m. following reports of shots fired in the area. Upon arrival, first responders discovered the victim lying on a concrete pad between two apartment buildings, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Despite the immediate response of emergency medical services, she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigation into the events leading up to the shooting revealed a harrowing history of harassment and stalking. Just moments before the attack, the victim had been speaking on the phone with a close friend, confiding that she was being followed by her ex-boyfriend while returning from a new partner's residence. The phone call abruptly ended after she indicated his presence, and the friend later reported hearing her scream the caller's name before the line went silent. Police records indicated that the suspect had a history of violent behavior toward the victim; in April of the same year, he had reportedly threatened to kill both her and himself, an incident that involved him pointing a firearm at her.
Witnesses at the scene observed a male fleeing the area in a white Chevrolet Tahoe immediately after the gunfire. Investigators located the vehicle abandoned and locked in a nearby parking lot shortly after the incident. Inside the SUV, officers observed a handgun on the front passenger seat, which later contributed to the evidence against the primary suspect. Authorities quickly identified 44-year-old Clifton Bryant Fletcher, the victim's former partner of seven years, as the person responsible for the crime. A search warrant was executed on the vehicle, recovering a. 45 caliber semi-automatic weapon consistent with the shell casings found near the victim's body.
Law enforcement launched a search for Fletcher, tracking his movements to a different jurisdiction before he returned to the Evansville area. He was apprehended overnight without further incident and booked into the Vanderburgh County Confinement Center on preliminary charges of murder. In June 2023, rather than proceeding to a trial that would have required the victim's family to relive the traumatic details of her death, Fletcher entered a guilty plea to the charge of murder. Consequently, a judge sentenced him to 45 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, citing the clear evidence of stalking and premeditation documented in the months preceding the fatal encounter.
