Bill McCleery, Justin L. Mack, and Robert King

IndyStar

Fishers — The 73-year-old man killed Saturday night in a Fishers park was known in the Korean immigrant community as someone who had a keen sense of doing the right thing and standing up for anyone being wronged — an irony that stands out now to a longtime friend trying to make sense of his murder.

Henry Kim was particularly protective of his friends in the Korean community, who sometimes struggle with language barriers. "He perceived injustice," longtime friend Charles Chae said. "He hated seeing someone doing something wrong."

The question for Chae and many others is what could have motivated someone to brutally kill Kim as he was out for a walk early on a Saturday night. An autopsy revealed he was shot three times and slashed across the throat. His body was found by someone walking a dog.

The answers may lie with 17-year-old Maxwell Winkler, who was arrested Tuesday morning in connection with Kim's death and faces a preliminary charge of murder. He is being held without bail in the Hamilton County Jail and is expected to face those charges in adult court.

Winkler was a student at Hamilton Southeastern High School and, according to The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, the son of Anderson economic development director Greg Winkler.

Winkler is scheduled to appear in court at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, the sheriff's department said.

Detectives believe that Maxwell Winkler acted alone and that he and Kim were unacquainted. Police have not disclosed a motive. It's also unclear how the two crossed paths in Windermere Park, near East 96th Street and Windermere Boulevard.

Kim was there because he had taken up walking to combat his diabetes, Chae said. What Kim liked even more as a form of exercise was to play golf. It was during a golf outing earlier this summer when Chae saw his old friend for the last time.

News that Kim was a homicide victim in Fishers hit Chae hard. The town of 84,000 earlier this year experienced its first homicide in nearly two decades, a case that also involves a teen suspect.

"I couldn't believe my ears," Chae said. "The Fishers area is a safe area."

In a place where violent crime is rare, the idea that an armed killer was on the loose kept the community on edge until Tuesday morning when it was announced that Winkler had been arrested.

Winkler had been in police custody since 4 p.m. Monday, Fishers Police Sgt. Tom Weger said. Police found him in the woods near 106th Street and Hawthorne Ridge. Later Monday night, detectives executed search warrants at two Fishers locations, including Winkler's home on Cheswick Lane.

Divers were dispatched to a retention pond, turning up nothing. In the end, police said they had determined that a handgun had been used in the crime and that a person walking through the area had found a knife in the street. Whether the knife was involved was unclear Tuesday.

The news of the arrest brought relief to Fishers residents but did little to reduce the shock.

"It just makes you want to know what happened. How could it happen?" Fishers resident Tom Sears said. "It's all anyone has been talking about, but no one expected this. … He's just a kid, you know."

Little information about Winkler was available Tuesday. Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith has released the following statement:

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to both families affected by this tragedy. Greg is a loving father and this tragedy in no way reflects on the superior work Greg does for the citizens of Anderson. We're waiting information as it becomes available."

Hours after the teen was taken into custody Tuesday, school started as usual at Hamilton Southeastern. Buses rolled. Students filed into classes. And around midday, school officials sent parents a vague email about "the events that have unfolded since the weekend." It revealed that, on Monday, the school had kept students inside for recess and PE "consistent with other safety precautions taken in the community."

In the aftermath, thoughts of those events still hung in the air outside the school.

Gail Peterson, 64, looked at the school and hung her head while walking a path along 126th Street. "I really think about the students during all this," she said. "And to think of that poor man. He was older, like me. … It could have happened to me during my walk. It's so sad."

At the Eunhye Korean Presbyterian Church, where Kim had periodically attended church, arrangements were being made for a private service later this week, said the Rev. Paul Cho, the church's pastor. Kim is survived by his wife, Sue, and sons Scott and Steve.

"I was very shocked, and I am very saddened. I just pray for his family members," Cho said. "It is such unimaginable pain and sorrow for them. It was just disbelief."

Cho said Kim was one of the early members of the Korean community in greater Indianapolis, which now numbers a few thousand and is served by about 10 Korean churches.

Raised in a Buddhist family, Kim converted to Christianity not long after his arrival and after he was introduced to the Presbyterian church, said Chae, his longtime friend. He had a low bass voice that he used to sing Korean pop and folk music at community gatherings. He was a fun-loving man who was well-liked in the community.

Yet in a park in one of the safest suburbs around Indianapolis, Kim was murdered. And for now, there is no clear reason why.

"I would like to know why a 17-year-old-boy shot him — an old man — three times," Chae said. "What's the motive?"

Star reporters Mark Alesia and Kristine Guerra, data journalist Haoyun Su and researcher Cathy Knapp contributed to this report. Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.