On a Monday morning in the spring of 2017, a tragic discovery shook a neighborhood on the northwest side of Indianapolis, Indiana. It was April 10 when police were called to an alleyway near the 900 block of West 35th Street, close to the historic Crown Hill Cemetery. There, authorities found the body of 15-year-old Sema-J James Jordan, a Black male student who attended Arsenal Technical High School.
He had sustained fatal gunshot wounds, and his death was immediately ruled a homicide, leaving his family and the local community searching for answers regarding the violent end to a young life.
Sema-J was known to his loved ones as a respectful and outgoing teenager who cherished his family. Following his untimely passing, he left behind a grieving circle of relatives, including his mother, Katherine Smith, his father, James Jordan, and his brothers. His obituary highlighted the deep loss felt by his cousins and friends, noting that he would be sorely missed by those who knew him. He was laid to rest at Sutherland Park Cemetery after a visitation service where the community gathered to pay their final respects.
Despite the passage of time, public records and crime databases from the years following the incident have listed the case as unsolved. Investigators initially sought information from the public, urging anyone with knowledge of the shooting to come forward, but online sources do not indicate that any specific suspects were publicly named or that any arrests were made in connection with his murder. The investigation into the circumstances that led to him being found in that alleyway remained an open inquiry, joining a list of other cold cases from that year in Indianapolis where families continued to wait for justice.
