Homicide investigation underway after 2 teens found dead in NW Ind. home

LAKE COUNTY, Ind. (WLS) -- The Lake County, Indiana, Sheriff's Department said it has opened a homicide investigation after two teens were found dead in a home.

The sheriff said they responded to a home Friday on the outskirts of Gary and Griffith after getting a 911 call from one of the teens' girlfriends just before noon. The she told operators she had been trying to get in touch with one of the teens, but he hadn't responded.

Finally, she went to his home in the 3900-block of West 51st Avenue in unincorporated Calumet Township. There, she found both teens unresponsive.

Sheriff's officers said when they entered the home they found the two 17-year-old boys inside, both dead.

Jasmine Dunfee said her brother Max Kroll and his friend, 18-year-old Elijah Robinson, are the two victims.

"My brother was 17 years old. He did not even get to live his life, He did not get to graduate high school, he did not get to do nothing," she said. "My family is devastated. This is my younger brother. I had co-guardianship of him."

Dunfee said the home the bodies were found in belonged to his grandparents, and that both boys were living there. She said a family member called for a welfare check after she didn't hear from the teens Friday morning.

"My brother's friend, his sister found them this morning because they would not answer the phone," she said.

Family members said both teens were murdered in the middle of the night after someone kicked open the back door of the home, then shot and killed them.

"He was sleeping," Dunfee said. "I am pretty sure he was sleeping when it happened."

The gunman then ransacked the home, Dunfee said, taking valuables. Dunfee said Kroll's grandparents were home at the time of the shooting, but did not realize anything had happened.

Kroll had plans to go to college, his sister said. Now she is planning a funeral and seeking justice for the boys.

A double homicide investigation is ongoing.