Indianapolis Teen Charged For Allegedly Killing Lyft Driver And Robbing His SUV

An Indianapolis teen was arrested for killing and robbing a Lyft driver earlier last month, police said Monday.

Last Tuesday, 17-year-old Jahion Jarrett was arrested for allegedly killing 45-year-old Hurts Presendieu on July 8, said the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

According to the court document obtained by WRTV, officers responded to a report of an unresponsive person at the 9400 block of East 25th Street around 7 p.m. on July 9. Police found Presendieu's body behind an outbuilding on the property of a church. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Marion County Coroner's Office said the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Jarrett has been charged as an adult by the prosecutor’s office. He faces two counts of murder charges, along with one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, resisting law enforcement and dangerous possession of a firearm, reported Associated Press.

Investigators were able to obtain church security footage from the pastor of the church. The video showed a person in a gray Nissan Rogue dumping Presendieu’s body behind the building. The vehicle matched the description of the car that the victim drove for Lyft.

On July 12, an officer with the Cumberland Police Department tried to stop the Nissan Rogue at 3:41 a.m. in the 900 block of Muessing Street. The driver initially stopped but then drove off, forcing the police to chase after him.

The SUV then crashed near East Washington Street and Shadeland Avenue and police arrested Jarrett and two other teens in the car. On searching the vehicle, investigators found blood splattered throughout the interiors of the car.

Jarrett was out on bond for armed robbery and auto theft charges for a 2020 incident at the time of the crash. He was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet, reported the Indianapolis Star.

Police found that Presendieu's final Lyft records matched Jarrett’s GPS location at the time of the murder.

The Lyft was booked using Jarrett’s girlfriend’s account. She told investigators that she allowed Jarrett to use her account. Jarrett allegedly later texted her and told her that the ride was going to be a robbery. According to the court document, she tried to tell him not to do it.

The girl told detectives that Jarrett later called her on Facetime and told her "that he shot the Lyft driver in the head and then went to an area near a church."