In the early evening of Sunday, November 26, 2006, a conversation between acquaintances outside an apartment at 920 Portage Lane in the Carriage Hills Apartments in Elkhart, Indiana, was violently interrupted. Len Carruthers, a 27-year-old Black male, was speaking with someone when a man approached him from behind and fired a single shot from a revolver.
The gunman, described by witnesses as a slender Black male around six feet tall, fled the scene.
Carruthers was rushed to Elkhart General Hospital, but the wound proved to be fatal, and he died shortly after his arrival. The Elkhart Police Homicide unit launched an investigation into his death. A possible motive emerged from Carruthers' activities earlier that day; he had reportedly been involved in an altercation at a nightclub in nearby Goshen. Investigators considered the possibility that the two events were related, but no definitive link was publicly confirmed.
In the years that have followed, information about the investigation into Len Carruthers' murder has been scarce. Despite the witness description of the shooter, no arrests have been announced, and the identity of the suspect remains unknown. The case has been featured by Michiana Crime Stoppers in an appeal for public assistance, but it does not appear that any new leads have brought resolution to the case. The investigation into the death of Len Carruthers remains open, another unsolved homicide in the city of Elkhart.
