Update: On June 4, 2026, a Marion County jury convicted Tyrese Rendell of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. The court declared a mistrial on a charge of murder.
Original story (published Feb. 11, 2025): Crystal Conner heard multiple gunshots before she saw the police lights outside her home a little over 14 months ago. That December 2023 evening, she found out from police that her daughter, Ariel Calhoun, 18, had been shot and killed right up the street from their home.
On Tuesday, detectives confirmed with her that someone was arrested for the shooting.
“It’s very hurtful all around the board,” Conner told IndyStar. “I don’t want anybody to experience what I’m experiencing. I have continued to pray for the people who killed my daughter and this arrest is bittersweet.”
Conner said as a parent, whether you have a child incarcerated or deceased, it’s a hard pill to swallow. Not only is her daughter gone, but she feels for the man arrested and his family.
“I have some type of relief, but not much,” Conner said. “My baby got justice but at what cost to everybody affected?”
Tyrese William Rendell, 19, was arrested and preliminarily charged by police with murder and robbery. He’s only been formally charged with resisting arrest, according to available online court records Tuesday afternoon.
Ariel Calhoun, 18, shot and killed in 2023
Just after 6:45 p.m., Dec. 3, 2023, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police were called to a neighborhood in the 7300 block of Crest Lane on the city’s northeast side about shots fired and a person down in the street. Calhoun died at the scene. She’d been shot in the upper left back with the bullet traveling upward and hitting her brain, the Marion County Coroner’s Office determined.
Three shell casings and a red iPhone were found near her body. Calhoun had an empty gun holster on her pants. Parts of a broken magazine and other items also were recovered.
Conner told police at the time that her daughter left their home, which was a few blocks from where she was shot, but she didn’t know what time.
Tip text to 911 on a suspect
According to court documents, the next day, at 2:14 a.m., a 911 operator started getting 911 text messages. The texts read “Tyrese and Terell killed the girl tonight.”
When asked if the texter knew their last name they replied, “No, they are twins. That’s all I can tell you. The girl that just got shot goes by AR. I’m telling you the girl that just died and what happened.”
When asked, “Do you know where they might be?” the response was, “She tried to sell a gun,” “I don’t know the twins,” and “they took the gun and beat her.”
Whoever was behind the number said they’d recently got the news about Calhoun’s death. They didn’t know Calhoun but wanted to relay the information.
More evidence found via texts
In a probable cause affidavit, detectives gathered video footage captured by neighbors that showed a dark-colored SUV in the neighborhood. A person gets out of the passenger side of the vehicle while Calhoun walks up to talk to them.
They talked for five minutes before she began yelling for help.
A shot was fired and the person went to the driver’s side of the SUV before three more shots rang out. The shooter got back inside the SUV and fled.
Detectives reviewed text messages between Calhoun’s phone and a number registered to Tyrese William Rendell, 19.
According to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest, Calhoun’s mother showed police her daughter’s social media profiles. The mom saw Instagram messages that revealed Calhoun may have been meeting someone to sell a handgun. Rendell’s Instagram page was the account in Calhoun’s messages.
While trying to figure out the logistics of a gun sale, Calhoun says, “Ima be real.. If I do it I gotta be in public and around ppl and I’m not hopping in no car.”
Tyrese William Rendell, 19, arrested after one year
On Jan. 15, 2024, Indianapolis detectives called Rendell’s mother who confirmed both of her twin sons’ phone numbers and where they stayed. When a detective called Rendell’s phone, the 19-year-old called back, but then hung up.
Police confirmed Rendell’s twin brother had been in the custody of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for months including when Calhoun was killed, ruling him out as a suspect.
Job Corps records and camera footage revealed that Rendell had checked out of their facility Dec. 1, 2023 and checked back in Dec. 7, 2023. His paperwork also confirmed his phone number.
On Jan. 19, 2024, detectives were conducting surveillance at the Greyhound Bus Station downtown when they saw Rendell get in the rear passenger seat of a gray SUV. Police pulled the car over during a traffic stop where Rendell was in the back passenger seat talking on a black iPhone that police confiscated.
A digital forensic unit report for the phone completed July 26, 2024, revealed the device was at the intersection of Scarborough Boulevard South Drive and Crest Lane between the times of 6:18 p.m. to 6:36 p.m. on Dec. 3, 2023.
At 6 p.m., on Monday, detectives went to Rendell’s job at a Target warehouse to arrest him on a murder warrant. They watched him walk into work and the plan was bring him into an office to take him into custody.
Detective in plain clothes but with visible badges hanging around their necks were waiting for Rendell when his manager called him into the office. Rendell fled the warehouse with detectives chasing.
He was eventually tackled to the ground and taken into custody.
Jade Jackson is a Public Safety Reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formally Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Text messages, technology and tips to IMPD helped lead to arrest in 2023 killing
Reporting by Jade Jackson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jade Jackson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
