Louis Eguia was stabbed to death during an argument in Decatur. Bradley Wetzel was hit by a pickup truck and crushed outside Syracuse. And Kevin Mote was struck in the head and face numerous times with a long-handled, double-bit ax at his home just outside Angola.

Their deaths were three of at least 13 homicides that northeast Indiana, outside of Allen County, saw in 2009. Only Noble County made it through the year without at least one homicide.

In 37 years of law enforcement, Wells County Sheriff Bob Frantz is fond of saying, he’s worked no more than five homicides. But two of those occurred within 48 hours last year.

Trying to find a common thread among the killings is nearly impossible, authorities said.

Most occurred in rural areas of the counties, outside city or town limits.

Other than that, the deaths were dramatically different, as were the outcomes.

Police have made arrests or otherwise solved each case, and the suspects are making their way through the justice system.

Rural homicides are usually easier to piece together than crimes such as street shootings that Fort Wayne police detectives must solve, said 1st Sgt. Mark Carunchia, the head of investigations for the Indiana State Police post in Fort Wayne.

“Everybody knows everybody, and they’re not afraid to talk about it,” he said about investigations in smaller communities.

And the connections between all the players in a rural homicide are usually pretty easy to make, Carunchia said.

In most of the 2009 killings, the suspect was at the scene when police arrived. In two cases, the killer committed suicide.

Another asset has been increased cooperation among police agencies, Carunchia said.

After Raymond Morrow, 63, was found shot to death inside his shop outside Waterloo on May 15, police had no suspects and asked for the public’s help.

A break came three days after the killing when sheriff’s deputies went to 28-year-old Matthew W. Nelson’s home looking for 28-year-old Matthu Sanders on an unrelated arrest warrant. When they searched the home, they found two revolvers, one of which matched the description of a weapon stolen from Morrow’s shop, according to court documents.

The deputies contacted Indiana State Police Detective Mark Heffelfinger, who used the evidence to tie four suspects, including Nelson and Sanders, to the killing. All of them face murder charges.

“You have to be able to recognize an opportunity and act on it,” Carunchia said.

mzennie@jg.net