Three Arrests Made in Evansville Parking Lot Homicide Investigation

Shots fired in the AMC Evansville 16 parking lot on Pearl Drive left 23-year-old Ethan Stenftenagel of Evansville dead inside a black Dodge Durango that had gone down a wooded embankment. The shooting happened around 6:40 p.m. on April 14 near West Lloyd Expressway and South Boehne Camp Road, and Stenftenagel was pronounced dead at the scene.

What began as a homicide investigation quickly widened when callers reported that a vehicle had rolled down the embankment and that two men fled in a silver Lexus. Vanderburgh County Coroner Bryan Underwood scheduled an autopsy for Thursday, while detectives moved immediately to identify everyone tied to the scene.

The first arrest came fast. Authorities charged Kardae Langley with murder and robbery, both Level 1 felonies. Investigators have since said the killing appears linked to an attempted robbery involving marijuana vape pens, shifting the case away from a random act of violence and toward a targeted crime built around a drug-related payoff.

Police then focused on the suspected shooter, Deshawndre Brown. Detectives, the Joint Drug Task Force and the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force tracked Brown to a hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, where Flock Safety camera technology helped confirm his location. Marshals established surveillance and took Brown into custody without incident. He is expected to be extradited to Indiana on an outstanding murder warrant.

A third suspect, Pierce Butler, was later found at a home in the 400 block of South Kentucky Avenue in Evansville. Investigators used surveillance and a search warrant to secure the residence, then SWAT officers executed the warrant and arrested Butler without incident shortly after 8 p.m. Sheriff Noah Robinson publicly urged Brown and Butler to surrender as the case continued to expand.

The scale of the probe shows how far beyond one parking-lot shooting the investigation has gone. Authorities said at least 23 search warrants have already been executed on vehicles, phones and residences, a sign that detectives are mapping the movements, contacts and possible accomplices around the homicide. Witness statements and Flock camera footage were used to track the second vehicle believed to be involved, and investigators say additional charges are expected against people not directly involved in the killing.