Missing Indianapolis 18-year-old found dead. What we know

(This story has been updated to add new information and correct an inaccuracy.)

A teenager who went missing last weekend was found dead on Indianapolis’ northeast side March 13, police and family members say.

The body of Traevion Pirtle, 18, was found near Fervent Prayer Ministries, a church by the intersection of East 38th Street and German Church Road, multiple relatives and family friends gathered near the scene told IndyStar March 14.

According to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report, officers arrived at the church around 9 p.m. March 13 to conduct a death investigation, though it remains unclear who initially reported the discovery. No weapons were reported at the scene, and the cause of death remains unknown.

Pirtle was last seen March 7 in the 3600 block of Cedar Pine Place, according to police, in a subdivision just south of the church. IMPD officials asked for the public’s help in finding him March 9 and said he “may be in need of medical attention.”

Relatives, including Pirtle’s aunt and two siblings, gathered March 14 in a cul-de-sac near the home where they say he was last seen a week before. Family members have traveled from out of state in recent days to help search for Pirtle, who lived with his mother in Indianapolis, they said.

What we know about Traevion Pirtle

Pirtle lived in Indianapolis with his mother and multiple younger siblings, family members told IndyStar, and was preparing to attend college in Florida this year. He previously attended Lawrence North High School but was not a student at the time of his death, Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township spokesperson Dana Altemeyer told IndyStar.

Gary Pirtle, his 22-year-old brother, said the two remained close despite the older sibling living in Milwaukee. He said his younger brother was a believer in God whose strong spirit at times felt like “too much for this universe.”

Traevion Pirtle was known to his younger siblings at his home in Indianapolis as “the man of the house,” family members said. He worked multiple jobs to help pay the bills, they said, all while pursuing his talent as a rapper.

“The memory is just so uplifting,” Gary Pirtle said of his younger brother. “This ain’t nobody that was out here in the streets.”

(This story may continue to update.)