IMPD and community partners help grieving families navigate homicide investigations

INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — For families grieving the loss of a loved one to violence, the search for answers remains long after investigators leave the scene.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is working to provide support, transparency, and guidance through the homicide investigation process.

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IMPD and its community partners are bringing families together—offering resources, support, and answers to help them navigate the difficult days, weeks, and years ahead with one message: they are not alone.

For more than 30 years, IMPD Victim Assistance Manager Lisa Brown has been guiding victims’ families and loved ones through unexpected grief and loss. “We’re there to walk alongside them and give them ideas of what’s going to happen and just to be a listening ear. We don’t want them to walk through this alone.”

IMPD, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, Firefly Children and Family Alliance, the coroner, and chaplain are there to help answer questions and walk them through the next difficult steps, from why it takes a while to inspect a victim’s body, the meticulous investigation, through evidence needed for court hearings.

Clarissa Patton knows the pain of loss all too well. Her brother and husband were killed just months apart. She says, “I encourage our families to keep going even when it’s storming, and you don’t understand. I encourage you to ask questions. I tell our families to take care of yourself, even if it’s difficult.”

She says healing has come one step at a time. Today, she uses her experience to help others as a victim advocate with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, supporting families coping with traumatic deaths. She’s been doing this for 13 years.

She said she does not hate the people responsible for taking her loved ones away. “It takes a lot of energy to be mad and to hate, and I need all that energy to focus on myself and focus on healing and be there for other people.”

The advocates see cases closed, criminals sentenced, but say there’s never truly closure.

“I hate the word closure because it never ends, Brown says. “The loved ones are gone. And even if everything works perfectly they’re loved ones are gone.”

This community event is held three times a year. The next public gathering will be in October.