1 PM UPDATE: Mayor visits neighborhood

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who had been an overseas economic development trip, is addressing a local concern today.

“Stopping by the Village Pantry on S Meridian, speaking with residents about last weekends tragic incident,” Ballard said by his Twitter account. The mayor has over 1,100 followers.

He sent the message a few minutes before 1 p.m.

Earlier: Thieves had a cigarette habit

A few cartons of smokes.

That’s what police said Rebecca Hough’s killers got while robbing the Near-Southside convenience store where she worked.

Marlboros and Newports.

“Not money,” said IMPD Chief Michael Spears. “Cigarettes.”

Police arrested two men Monday in Saturday’s killing of Hough, 62, a mother of three. Bruce Lee Aldrich and Shawn Thomas Heyob, both 19, were held on preliminary charges of murder, robbery and confinement.

Police stayed tight-lipped about why they think the two men shot Hough. Both have criminal records for violent crime; Heyob had been released from prison just a few days before the killing.

Why take only cigarettes? Why not take the money? Police officials say they are increasingly concerned about robbers stealing cigarettes and selling them on the black market, but it was not clear whether that’s what spurred this robbery.

IMPD Lt. Jeff Duhamell said it was unusual for armed robbers to steal cigarettes and nothing else. “Usually that’s a larceny crime, a break-in,” he said. “Not an armed robbery where money is the target.”

While police try to piece together why it happened, Hough’s killing has elicited strong emotions for many who live near the Village Pantry at 1402 S. Meridian St.

Hough had worked as a night clerk for more than 20 years and was known for her kindness to neighbors — a beloved fixture to many in the neighborhood.

Hough’s son, Timothy Rico, 37, said through tears that his mother was “a great woman” who was “known to everyone.”

He said his mother worked the overnight shift, alone and without complaint.

“She’s done everything there except supervise. She did inventory and worked behind the counter; she took care of customers in the morning,” he said. “She raised us three boys by herself even though she never made a lot of money.”

Hough grew up in Greenfield but raised Rico and his brothers, Lawrence and Anthony, in the Fountain Square neighborhood. She liked Kenny Rogers’ music — and she had a passion for crocheting scarves, doilies and Christmas ornaments.

“That’s all she did,” Rico said.

She celebrated her 14th wedding anniversary with husband Leon Hough, 67, the Saturday before she was killed.

“They stayed home, and she made dinner,” Rico said. “She could burn water, but it didn’t matter; they did everything together.”

About 200 people attended a vigil Monday outside the Village Pantry, and it was there that police announced the arrests of Aldrich and Heyob. Spears assured those who came to remember Hough that their Near-Southside community can rest easier now.

“We feel very strongly that these are the two individuals,” Spears said. “These are the two main players.”

Jimmy Wilson, 25, said he knew of the suspects from the neighborhood and described them as troublemakers. He said he often stopped in the store to help out Hough, who would reward him with doughnuts.

“They killed a friend of mine, who was like a mom to me,” he said.

Heyob, who was released from the Putnamville Correctional Facility on Thursday, has prior convictions for theft, battery and gang activity. Aldrich has prior convictions for criminal recklessness and carrying a handgun without a license on school property. He was released from the Department of Correction in February 2008, records show.

Melinda Stribney, 39, who lives a couple of blocks away, said she came to the Village Pantry every morning for coffee while she waited for a bus. She said she recently filled out an application to work there.

She asked Hough about being robbed.

“She didn’t fight them; she had been robbed so many times,” Stribney said. "She always told me, ‘If you work here, give them what they want. It’s not worth it.’ "