A tattoo, a red purse and a birthday boast.

That’s all Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detectives had to work with when they found Gregory Ray shot to death on a couch Saturday.

But the small details that Eastside residents gave started to fit together. Police soon had a possible suspect. Then came a lucky break: April McKenney was arrested with the suspected weapon two days later.

McKenney, 20, Indianapolis, is in the Marion County Jail facing preliminary murder charges. A motive for the killing was not disclosed.

Detective William Rogers credited Ray’s neighbors with providing crucial information. And a police commander said he hoped it could continue.

“We work hard building relationships where the residents trust our officers and feel confident talking to them,” said East District Commander Chad Knecht.

Ray, a 33-year-old handyman who graduated from Tech High School, was dead when officers found him inside a house in the 2000 block of Roosevelt Avenue at 8:55 a.m. Saturday. He had been shot in the abdomen, and a witness said Ray had offered a clue earlier, when he lay dying in the front yard.

“That (woman) shot me,” he told James Davidson, according to an IMPD police report.

Davidson helped Ray into the house and onto the couch. But Ray didn’t want him to call police or an ambulance. He told him to call a friend instead.

When the friend, Lauman Smith, approached the front door, he spotted a short woman, about 20, standing at the side of the house. She pointed a gun at him and quickly disappeared around the side of the house.

Neighbors chased the woman through a couple of yards, then returned to Ray’s house. Detectives and beat officers arrived and fanned out. Residents reported several sightings of a fleeing, desperate woman carrying a red purse.

After the search ended, detectives focused on two key pieces of information.

Davidson told police he and Ray had drunk with the woman the night before. He didn’t know her name but said she had two tattoos: one on her back with the letter “A” and another of an animal on her inner thigh.

Then, a relative of Ray’s told detectives he once heard the woman brag that she would be 21 years old Feb. 23.

Rogers punched in the birthday in a crime database. He found that April McKenney, who had prior arrests, was born Feb. 23. She also had two tattoos: one on her back and one near her thigh, of a tiger.

It turned out McKenney was already in jail. She’d been arrested Monday night in a pickup truck that was speeding on North Emerson Avenue.

In the truck was a 9 mm handgun with six live rounds inside. Police tested the gun and said it matched with the bullets and shell casings found at the site of Ray’s shooting. On Wednesday, McKenney was preliminarily charged with murder when she appeared in court for her first appearance on gun charges.

Thomas Stokes, 56, who had been Ray’s neighbor for 10 years, said residents in the neighborhood were shocked that Ray, a friendly man, was killed. Ray had three children and was remodeling the house, where his parents had lived until 10 years ago.

Residents were equally surprised to learn who was accused of killing him and that their assistance helped nab her.

“Nobody knew who this person was,” Stokes said. “Nobody ever saw him with that girl before. But I guess they put together the little that everyone gave them and figured out who she was.”