In the late hours of May 21, 2017, and the early morning of May 22, 29-year-old Jason Michael Heck, a White male, was at his Kokomo, Indiana home with his girlfriend when he received a call from Marcus D. Byars, a man he had known for years. Byars, who had been out drinking, was looking to trade Xanax for marijuana. Their conversation shifted to a recent robbery Byars had experienced, leading Heck to offer to sell Byars a pistol.
Byars agreed to the purchase and, due to his intoxication, asked Heck to come to his trailer to complete the deal. Before leaving, Heck informed his girlfriend that he was going to the Chrysler parking lot to get two thousand dollars and took with him an Airsoft BB gun that he had covered in black electrical tape to make it appear real.
Heck drove his 2009 blue Pontiac G6 and met Byars at his uncle's trailer. After inspecting the pistol Heck had brought, Byars expressed a desire to test-fire it. Heck then drove both of them in Byars' truck to the nearby United Auto Workers Local 1166 hall. Once there, both men exited the vehicle, and Byars shot Heck with the gun. After the shooting, Byars drove his truck back to his uncle's trailer and confessed what had just transpired. He then returned to the UAW hall, where he took Heck's keys, cigarettes, and cell phone from his body, and also retrieved the murder weapon.
Jason Heck's body was discovered later on May 22, 2017, under a picnic pavilion on the UAW property. The Kokomo Police Department launched a death investigation, which was quickly ruled a homicide. Investigators learned that Heck's car was missing from the scene and considered it stolen. Their investigation swiftly led them to Marcus D. Byars, who was then 31 years old. He was taken into custody just a few days later, on May 25, 2017.
Byars was charged with murder, and the state later added a charge of felony murder, alleging that he had intentionally killed Heck while committing or attempting to commit robbery. In December 2018, the case went to trial. During the legal proceedings, it was revealed that a source had told investigators Byars admitted to the shooting, claiming the victim owed him money. Ultimately, a jury convicted Marcus Byars of felony murder. He was sentenced to sixty-five years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with three of those years suspended to probation. Byars later appealed his conviction, arguing that evidence found in his trailer was improperly admitted, but the appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision.
