The prime suspect in the deaths of a woman and young child found inside a Boone County home is now also dead, by his own hand.

The prime suspect in the deaths of a woman and young child found inside a Boone County home is now also dead, by his own hand.

Boone County authorities said Katherine Janet Giehll and her 4-year-old son Raymond Peter Giehll IV, were found dead shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday at a Zionsville home in the 6800 block of Old Hunt Club Road.

Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen said Wednesday was Katherine's 31st birthday.

"It absolutely makes me sick to my stomach," he said. "In my 32 years in law enforcement, I have never witnessed a crime so heinous and heartbreaking."

Police tracked Wabash College employee Lucius Oliver Hamilton III to a downtown Indianapolis hotel room Wednesday afternoon. The 61-year-old was later found dead inside that hotel room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound .

"We were able to track Hamilton down to a specific location in downtown Indianapolis where he cowardly took his life instead of choosing to face justice for his actions. My heart goes out to the Giehll family and to those first responders that had to witness this horrific scene today," said Sheriff Nielsen.

Hamilton was Katherine Giehll's uncle. Investigators believe that the motive for the killings is connected to a long-simmering dispute over a family trust, with millions of dollars involved.

"I think there's millions of dollars involved here. All I can tell you is, I don't want to get into specifics at this time, it is from a family trust and it's a lingering issue that's been going on for the last few years," said Sheriff Nielsen.

Nielsen promised that his investigators would document every detail to bring justice to the family.

Karen McCausland knew Giehll from the years she worked at Karen's veterinary clinic.

"She was just the nicest and sweetest person. I never heard a mean word come out of her mouth," McCausland said. "I was just...it just breaks my heart."

For neighbors in Zionsville, the news spread that a financial dispute led to the murder of the mother and her child.

"It's horrible. I don't know what to say," said neighbor Chrissy Wiseman.

Classes at Wabash College were canceled in the wake of the initial crime and the campus was temporarily placed on lockdown.

"This is a very tragic event," said Sheriff Nielsen earlier in the day. "As you can understand, this is a serious matter, and we need to handle it perfectly. We are utilizing multiple agencies to assist with solving this crime and we will exhaust every resource to help investigate this to the fullest."

Neighbors said they don't remember seeing the accused killer at the Giehll's house before. They knew the victims and his dad, who was not home at the time of the attack.

"My gosh, yeah, I can't even imagine. They were quiet neighbors. They were great. I saw the guy, waved to him when he went to work in the morning. Yeah that's awful. That's just heartbreaking," said neighbor Elisha Krug.

Police leave double murder suspects home pic.twitter.com/sSRZPeWGyv — David MacAnally (@DavidMacAnally) February 17, 2016

By the time armored police vehicles left Hamilton's house, police had already tracked the accused killer to the Hilton downtown, where officers say he killed himself.

"Shocked. Lu has always been, Lu and Liz, his wife, have always been very, very nice. So this comes as a real big shock," said family friend Steve Harlow.

Hamilton lived in horse country, was active in a local hunt and riding club and was on staff at Wabash College.

Before he was traced to the downtown hotel, police had his family's old horse farm under surveillance, right behind Harlow's property.

"I'm just kind of in disbelief," Harlow said.

For the neighbors, "we become closer," Wiseman said, "It's difficult. I don't know what to say."



Unofficial timeline of events (from Boone County Sheriff's Department:)



In the early morning of January 17th, 2016 Katherine Giehll sent her husband Raymond Giehll III a text that her uncle, Lucius Hamilton, was at their home. After Mr. Giehll was unable to reach his wife on the phone, Giehll accessed his in-home cameras via his cell phone. Giehll noticed Hamilton inside of the residence and after several more failed attempts to reach Katherine, Mr. Giehll, being concerned for his family's well-being, drove to the house. Mr. Giehll arrived home to find his wife and son deceased and he immediately called 911.

Giehll notified the 911 operator that Hamilton was previously inside the residence.

Around 11:30am, detectives were given video surveillance footage of Hamilton's Saab SUV leaving the home of the deceased. (The exterior surveillance cameras are designed to record to a DVR however the interior cameras only give a live stream to a specific device.) Investigators were able to positively identify Hamilton by checking the recorded DVR in the garage which identified Hamilton. Investigators also discovered a substantial family trust that the victims were beneficiaries of, as well as Hamilton. (The details of the trust are complex and are currently being looked into).

Once authorities positively identified Hamilton as a prime suspect, local law enforcement as well as detectives from the Boone County Homicide Task force checked Hamilton's place of employment at Wabash College. After it was determined that Hamilton was at the school but had since left, Wabash was placed on lockdown. It was determined that Hamilton drove his Saab to the school and then checked out a work van.

Through an extensive investigation by multiple surrounding and federal agencies, law enforcement officials determined Hamilton had checked in to the Hilton [Hotel] in downtown Indianapolis. Within minutes of that confirmation, US Marshals had arrived on scene and secured the floor. The Indiana State Police SWAT team arrived shortly thereafter and began tactical measures to make contact with Hamilton. Upon knocking on the door, SWAT officers reported two shots fired. After several more attempts to contact Hamilton verbally, they entered the room. Hamilton was found deceased with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A handgun was recovered at the scene and is currently being processed by crime scene investigators.

Autopsies were performed on Katherine and Raymond IV [Wednesday] night by the Boone County Coroner's Office. The Coroner's Office stated that Mrs. Giehll sustained 3 gunshot wounds and Raymond one.

Both vehicles driven by Hamilton are currently being processed by crime scene investigators. This continues to be an ongoing investigation that is extremely complex and involves multiple agencies. At this point there will be no more information released unless there are major developments in the case.