Uncle charged in death of woman found in abandoned Braddock garage

BRADDOCK, Pa. — A man has been charged with homicide in the death of his niece, whose body was found Saturday morning in an abandoned garage in Braddock, authorities said.

Police and first responders were called just before 9 a.m. Saturday to Yew Way and Maple Alley, where someone made the discovery.

The woman, India Stewart, 29, had been shot in the head, police said. Investigators later determined that her uncle, Kalvin Stewart, was responsible for her death.

According to a criminal complaint, police reviewed surveillance video from Edgewood Towne Centre, where India Stewart was scheduled to work Saturday morning at Taco Bell, and from the 800 block of Braddock Avenue, near the location where India Stewart’s body was found. The footage showed a Jeep Compass matching Kalvin Stewart’s at both places.

Soon after the Jeep Compass was captured on surveillance video speeding westbound on Braddock Avenue, a vehicle fire was reported on North Charles Street in Pittsburgh’s North Side. It was a Jeep Compass registered to Kalvin Stewart and his wife, the complaint said.

The vehicle was processed by investigators, who discovered blood spatter on the center console, dashboard and glove box, the complaint said.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman said Saturday that he's trying to wrap his head around what he called a senseless act.

“A young woman lost her life through senseless violence, and her life mattered. I know there are people that miss her terribly and grieving her loss,” Fetterman said. “The solution is to do everything we can to bring the person or persons that did this to her to justice.”

According to the complaint, India Stewart lived with her uncle and his wife in Rankin for a brief time in the fall of 2016. Police were called in October for a domestic incident involving India Stewart and Kalvin Stewart, in which India Stewart told police she was punched several times in her face.

Cox Media Group