The suspect in a Franklin home invasion who had eluded police for days has been arrested.
Reese L. Keith, 27, was arrested Saturday in Richmond, Franklin police said. He will be brought back to Johnson County to face multiple felony and misdemeanor charges relating to breaking into the home of an elderly Franklin couple, robbing them at gunpoint and binding them to a chair and walker with duct tape.
He stole their vehicle during the ordeal one week ago, police said, and Franklin police and the U.S. Marshals have been searching for him ever since.
The circumstances regarding Keith’s arrest during the weekend and how Richmond police encountered him were not available.
A Johnson County jail van will go to Richmond this morning to pick him up and bring him back to Franklin, where police detectives will attempt to interview him, Franklin Police Deputy Chief Chris Tennell said.
The search for Keith locally had focused on northern Johnson County and the south side of Indianapolis based on tips, police had said. Detectives had also been told that Keith had shaved his head in an effort to avoid being recognized.
Keith broke into the Franklin home late afternoon on May 15 after walking away from Johnson Memorial Hospital, located across the street, earlier that morning. Greenwood police had left him there when a doctor admitted him for treatment after he suffered two seizures and complained of pain following a car crash.
Greenwood police had placed him under arrest but had to seek medical care for him on May 14 after he ran from a car crash and was driving a stolen vehicle, according to court documents. Drug paraphernalia was in the vehicle and Keith had syringes in his pocket when they found him, the reports said.
The decision of Greenwood police officers to leave Keith at the hospital was called into question after the man left the hospital and broke into the Franklin home. The incident has prompted both Franklin and Greenwood police departments to change their policies regarding whether officers stay with suspects or release them and pursue a warrant for a later arrest.
