In the spring of 2015, a sense of foreboding hung heavy in the air for 31-year-old Nekia Nichelle Hyler, a female resident of Michigan City, Indiana. Living with her daughter at the Stepping Stones Women's Shelter, she confided in her case manager on the morning of April 13th. She was distressed and tearfully shared her fears, revealing she was going to meet a man to tell him she might be pregnant with his child.
Overwhelmed with anxiety, she expressed a chilling premonition that this might be the last time anyone would see her alive. Her words would tragically become a reality, as she never returned to the shelter.
Later that same day, Hyler visited a friend and received a phone call from a man she was involved with, Alan Cornelius Landry. Despite being married, Landry had been carrying on a relationship with Hyler. After this call, Hyler left her friend's home and drove to a secluded alley. It was there, in the 300 block of Holliday Street, that her life came to a violent end. The following day, on April 14, 2015, her body was discovered inside her parked vehicle. An autopsy would later confirm that she had died from a single gunshot wound.
The investigation into Hyler's death unfolded over the next 19 months. Detectives focused on Alan Cornelius Landry, whose initial statements to the police were riddled with inconsistencies. He claimed to have only met with Hyler briefly at a gas station, but GPS data from her phone contradicted his story, placing her car in the alley where her body was found. A crucial piece of evidence was a photograph Hyler had sent to a friend just before her death, showing a man consistent with Landry's appearance in the alley. Although the murder weapon was never recovered, ballistics from the bullet that killed Hyler were consistent with a type of revolver Landry was known to possess.
In December of 2016, the lengthy investigation culminated in the arrest of 38-year-old Alan Cornelius Landry in Kentucky. He was extradited back to Indiana to face charges for the murder of Nekia Nichelle Hyler. The subsequent trial relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, piecing together the final hours of Hyler's life and Landry's connection to her death. The jury found the evidence compelling and convicted him of murder. The court, also finding him to be a habitual offender, imposed a sentence of sixty years in prison, with an additional fifteen years enhancement. Landry later appealed his conviction, arguing the evidence was insufficient, but the appeal was denied, solidifying the legal conclusion to a tragic story of fear, betrayal, and violence.
