On September 30, 2017, the life of 21-year-old Aliyah Igartua of Gary, Indiana, was tragically cut short in Indianapolis. She and her friend, 24-year-old Martina Webb, were in the city for a visit. The two women were discovered deceased inside a burning vehicle located behind an abandoned house on Goodlet Avenue on the city's west side. An subsequent investigation determined that both women had been shot in the head prior to the car being set ablaze.
The events that led to their deaths
began the previous evening, on September 29, 2017. Igartua and Webb were attending a family gathering in Indianapolis. During this gathering, an argument erupted between Webb and a 31-year-old man from Merrillville, Indiana, named Tywan James. According to witness accounts, the confrontation escalated, and James approached the passenger side of the vehicle Webb was in, produced a firearm, and shot her in the head. Igartua attempted to escape on foot, but James pursued her. He shot her twice, with the fatal bullet striking the back of her head. Igartua was a new mother to a one-month-old baby girl, and Webb was the mother of a four-year-old boy.
Following the shootings, Tywan James fled the scene. In October 2017, U.S. Marshals apprehended him at the federal courthouse in Hammond. The investigation continued to piece together how the vehicle with the victims inside was moved to the location where it was set on fire. Autopsies later confirmed that both women had died from gunshot wounds to the head before the fire was started. In September 2018, after a jury trial that lasted three days, Tywan James was found guilty on two counts of murder. The following month, he was sentenced to 120 years in prison for the murders of Aliyah Igartua and Martina Webb.
