CARMEL, Indiana — A woman was found shot dead inside a home on Wildcat Drive in Carmel late on Thursday night, November 12, and a 53-year-old Carmel man is in the Hamilton County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder, the Carmel Police Department said. Police were called to the 13900 block of Wildcat Drive, near Hazel Dell Parkway, at about 10:21 p.m. after reports of shots fired inside the home, and found the woman unresponsive; she was declared dead at the scene.

Source: Carmel Police Department via N'Cuffs

FOX59 in Indianapolis reported that the woman had been shot and killed inside the house, and that the Hamilton County Coroner's Office has since sealed the front door of the Wildcat Drive home while the investigation continues. WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, also reported the arrest on Friday.

Source: FOX59 Indianapolis

The man in custody

Police identified the man taken into custody as Xinjian Yang, 53, of Carmel. He was lodged in the Hamilton County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder, and Carmel police said further charges are possible once the investigation is complete. A preliminary charge is an allegation made at the time of arrest; it is not a conviction, and Yang is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.

What police have not released

As of Friday, police had not released the dead woman's name, her age, or her relationship to Yang, and no motive has been announced. The Hamilton County Coroner's Office will formally identify the victim once family notification is complete — the standard step before a name is made public in an Indiana death investigation, and the reason the sealed front door on Wildcat Drive is expected to stay in place while officers and the coroner finish their work at the house.

How a preliminary charge works in Indiana

In Indiana, officers may lodge a suspect on a preliminary charge based on probable cause, but the decision to file formal charges belongs to the county prosecutor, who reviews the police investigation first. That review, by the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, is the next formal step in this case, followed by an initial court hearing for Yang if charges are filed. Until then, the murder allegation rests on the police account, and central details — how many shots were fired and what happened inside the house before the 10:21 p.m. call — have not been made public.

Carmel, a city of roughly 100,000 people immediately north of Indianapolis in Hamilton County, is one of Indiana's most affluent suburbs and is regularly listed among the safest cities of its size in the state — which is why a homicide investigation on a quiet residential street off Hazel Dell Parkway drew a heavy police presence late on Thursday night. Officers remained at the Wildcat Drive home into Friday as the coroner's office secured the property.