Family believes IMPD ‘dropped the ball’ when handling 15-year-old’s disappearance

It was shortly after midnight when Shaylee Snyder’s family received a knock on their front door from officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

At first, Snyder’s mother was hoping that police were there to return her missing 15-year-old daughter, who had disappeared two weeks prior.

Instead, the family was given the news no one wanted to hear.

Snyder was found dead on Feb. 22, in the same area as an abandoned 2016 Chevrolet sedan in the 1800 block of South Sigsbee Street near train tracks, according to police records.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office confirmed her death on Feb. 25, but has yet to determine the cause of death.

The news of Snyder’s death came as a shock to the family, as her parents said they had not heard back from the detective assigned to Snyder’s case.

According to police records, Snyder was declared a runaway on Feb. 10. Information from the missing person’s flyers indicates that Snyder had last been seen in Beech Grove near South 17th Avenue that same day.

Snyder’s family had provided the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Beech Grove Police Department with all the information that they knew about her disappearance.

However, Snyder’s family believes that the police did not handle Snyder’s case with the level of importance and urgency they were hoping for because she had been declared a runaway.

Snyder’s mother believed that police had dismissed her daughter’s disappearance, and “dropped the ball.”

It’s unclear what led to Snyder’s death. In an email response to the IndyStar, police said the department is still investigating her death. The Marion County Coroner’s office also determined that the cause of Snyder’s death is still pending investigation.

When it came to information regarding Snyder’s disappearance, much of the publicly available information came from her family’s social media posts.

IndyStar asked IMPD if they had released any prior information about Snyder’s disappearance to the public or the media. The department did not answer the question, noting that the case was still being investigated.

Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at npadilla@indystar.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.