Kristine Guerra, Vic Ryckaert, Chris Sikich, and Will Higgins

IndyStar

The call to police came shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday to a Zionsville neighborhood filled with big homes on estate lots.

Inside a house were two bodies. Katherine Janet Giehll, 31, and her 4-year-old son were found dead with gunshot wounds.

What followed was a daylong manhunt that brought SWAT team searches of the Wabash College campus in Crawfordsville and ended with gunshots in a Downtown Indianapolis Hilton hotel room. The suspect, Lucius Hamilton III, an alumni fundraiser for the college, fatally shot himself with a semi-automatic weapon, police said.

Police said the killings of the mother and her young child were motivated strictly by money — millions of dollars from a family trust.

Hamilton was Giehll’s uncle. Both descended from Lucius Hamilton II, whose reach extended to businesses, community boards and wealth.

“I have lost a part of my heart”

Police found Katherine Giehll’s body near the front door of the home in the 6800 block of Old Hunt Club Road. Her son, Raymond Peter Giehll IV, was found near a television in the living room.

Boone County Sheriff Michael Nielson called the crime the most heinous and heartbreaking he has witnessed in his 32 years as a law enforcement officer. He vowed to catch Hamilton, a 1976 alumnus of Wabash College and a senior major gifts officer for the school’s alumni center.

Zionsville killings: What we know

Giehll’s father — Hamilton’s brother — was a law enforcement officer. Russell Hamilton, who died in 2012, spent 27 years as a reserve officer for the Marion County Sheriff’s Department.

A friend of Giehll’s said she and her son were special people.

“She’s been my best friend for almost 20 years,” Pamela Brown told IndyStar. “She’s my sister. Little Ray was an amazing little boy. I have lost a part of my heart. Katie is and will always be an amazing person.”

Giehll’s husband declined to comment Wednesday when reached by IndyStar.

The search for Hamilton took police to Wabash College, where he was last seen around 9:30 a.m. in a white 2003 Dodge van owned by the school. Classes were canceled, and the campus was put on lockdown. A SWAT team searched every building, Crawfordsville Police Detective Bob Rivers said.

The lockdown was lifted about 3 p.m.

Around the same time, more than 50 miles away, shots were fired inside the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites on Market Street near the Statehouse. Police found Hamilton dead with self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Portions of the fourth floor were evacuated. Police said there was no exchange of gunshots between Hamilton and officers.

The white Dodge van was found in the hotel garage.

Despite what happened on the fourth floor of the hotel, the rest of the building was undisturbed and no one else was injured. The hotel was 100 percent occupied, said marketing manager Stanton Jacobs. At least one convention, the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, was gathered there.

Intense moments for Wabash College

Greendale Mayor Alan Weiss, who was attending the convention, said someone told him that a man with a gun was running from the police. Moments later, he was told the threat was over.

“There was really no time to panic or get under the table,” Weiss said.

The financial motive

How much money is in the family trust is unclear, but Sgt. Chris Burcham said the amount is in the millions of dollars.

Hamilton and Giehll appear to have descended from a wealthy family. Hamilton’s father, Giehll’s grandfather Lucius Hamilton II, owned some land in Hamilton County, where he and his wife, Ethel Janet Hamilton, moved in the mid-1940s. Ethel’s father, Russell White, was president and chairman of the board of Indiana National Bank. In 1934, White bought 155 acres of land, then built a 10,000-square-foot manor home four years later.

Lucius Hamilton II was head of the White Baking Co. and was co-owner of Sentinel Printing. He also served on the boards of Indiana National Bank, the American Bakers Association and Goodwill Industries. He died in 2007. His two sons, Lucius Hamilton III and Russell Hamilton, are listed as personal representatives of his estate, court records show.

Police said Wednesday that they did not know whether disagreements among family members existed over the older Hamilton’s estate. Police said an investigation is ongoing.

“It’s very, very sad”

Lucius Hamilton III lived with his wife, Liz, in a gated home on a forested 15-acre lot off 116th Street in Southwest Clay Township in Hamilton County. The home is hardly visible over a rolling hill just inside the gate.

Wabash College lockdown: Tweets from campus

Police were at the home for much of the day, neighbors said.

Jackie and Dave Lemen have lived across the street for 10 years. They said the Hamiltons were friendly but not very outgoing neighbors.

Several neighbors live along 116th Street on large wooded lots.

The Lemens and Hamiltons often talked of getting dinner but never did.

Jackie Lemen said she knew Hamilton’s wife a little better because the two once worked out at the same gym. But the Lemens said they never really did much other than wave at Hamilton coming and going from their homes.

Jackie Lemen said she had been in shock all day after hearing the news and had been crying.

She thought the family was peaceful. Dave Lemen said Hamilton put up Christmas lights every year and decorated the gate to his private driveway.

“I never would have thought that this would have happened,” Jackie Lemen said. “It’s very, very sad.”

The Lemens said the Hamiltons had four grown children. Hamilton’s father, they said, once owned much of the land in the area and sold it for development.

“I always had the feeling they had a lot of money,” Jackie Lemen said of the family.

IndyStar reporter Michael Anthony Adams and Lafayette Journal & Courier reporter Ron Wilkins contributed to this story.

Timeline of events

»8:52 a.m.: Police are called to a Zionsville home in the 6800 block of Old Hunt Club Road, where Katherine Janet Giehll, 31, and Raymond Peter Giehll IV, 4, are found shot dead.

»9:30 a.m.: Suspect Lucius Oliver Hamilton III, 61, is last seen at Wabash College, where he worked.

»Midmorning: Wabash College is locked down, and classes are canceled.

»4:20 p.m.: Hamilton is found dead in a fourth-floor room at Hilton hotel in Downtown Indy.