In the early hours of September 30, 2017, a grim discovery was made in an alley on the west side of Indianapolis. Firefighters, responding to a report of a vehicle fire behind an abandoned home in the 1600 block of Goodlet Avenue, found the bodies of two young women inside the burning car. The victims were later identified as 24-year-old Martina Webb and her 21-year-old best friend, Aliyah Igartua, both from Gary, Indiana.
An autopsy would later reveal that both women had been shot in the head before the fire was set.
The two friends had traveled to Indianapolis the previous day, September 29, for Webb to visit her boyfriend. That evening, they attended a gathering in the 1800 block of Winfield Avenue, less than a mile from where their bodies would be discovered. According to witnesses and court documents, an argument broke out between Webb and another individual at the event, a man identified as Tywan James. The initially playful argument grew increasingly heated.
The verbal altercation escalated tragically into violence. James reportedly approached the passenger side of the vehicle where Webb was sitting, pulled out a large firearm, and fired a single shot through the open window, striking her in the head. As panic ensued, Igartua attempted to flee on foot but was chased down by James, who shot her as well. Following the shootings, another man was seen getting into the driver's seat of Webb's car and driving away with her body still inside.
An investigation was launched, and suspicion quickly fell upon Tywan James. In October 2017, he was located and arrested by U.S. Marshals in Hammond, Indiana, on two counts of murder. James, from Gary, stood trial for the murders in September 2018. After a three-day trial, a jury found him guilty on both counts. The following month, Tywan James was sentenced to 120 years in prison for the murders of Martina Webb and Aliyah Igartua. At the time of their deaths, Webb was the mother of a four-year-old boy, and Igartua had a one-month-old baby girl.
