Kristine Phillips

1 month ago | indystar.com | Kristine Phillips

This is the second part of a two-part story. ELKHART, Ind. — Steve Rezutko, a veteran Elkhart police detective, was not the lead investigator in the murder of Christopher Thomas. He was not even part of the investigation. But by January 1999, as the months-old case sat unsolved, investigators — with Rezutko's help — seemed to catch a break. They found a woman they claimed to be an eyewitness. At the time, Tricia Mock was at the Elkhart County Jail following an arrest for possession of cocaine.

1 month ago | indystar.com | Kristine Phillips

ELKHART, Ind. — Christopher Thomas left a trail of blood as he staggered and fell on the ground outside his motel room. As he lay face down, wearing only a pair of shorts and a wristwatch, several more bullets pierced the left side of his head. The former U.S. Marine who spiraled into crack addiction died from one gunshot wound to the chest and at least four to the head. Thomas had been a confidential informant for the Elkhart County Drug Task Force for 10 months leading up to his shooting Aug.

1 month ago | indystar.com | Tim Evans |Kristine Phillips

"Lawless," a new IndyStar investigation by reporter Kristine Phillips and visual journalist Mykal McEldowney, pulled back the curtain on decades-old police misconduct in Elkhart and the lingering impact on the department and the city's Black community. Here are seven things you need to know about the investigation. Who are the Wolverines? Wolverines was a nickname taken by a group of young, aggressive, White police officers who worked in Elkhart in the 1980s and 1990s.

2 months ago | courierpress.com | Kristine Phillips

A band of young, aggressive, white Elkhart cops who called themselves the Wolverines often targeted Black people for abuse and false arrests, an IndyStar investigation found. ELKHART, Ind. — There was blood everywhere. Smeared all over the floor and on the head, arms and legs of the skinny Black man who was just arrested. The gruesome scene was the aftermath of a beating Carolyn Jenks said she witnessed inside the Elkhart Police Department's detention center.

2 months ago | southbendtribune.com | Kristine Phillips

A band of young, aggressive, white Elkhart cops who called themselves the Wolverines often targeted Black people for abuse and false arrests, an IndyStar investigation found. ELKHART, Ind. — There was blood everywhere. Smeared all over the floor and on the head, arms and legs of the skinny Black man who was just arrested. The gruesome scene was the aftermath of a beating Carolyn Jenks said she witnessed inside the Elkhart Police Department's detention center.