Patrick Scott and Valerie Tindall (Rush County Sheriff’s Office); Investigators searching for the Valerie’s body (WXIN screenshot)
A 59-year-old man in Indiana will likely spend the remainder of his days behind bars for killing a 17-year-old neighbor and burying her body inside a makeshift coffin in his yard, only a few hundred feet from her own home. Rush County Circuit Court Judge David E. Northam on Monday ordered Patrick Scott to serve a sentence of 57 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of Valerie Tindall.
Tindall had been missing for about six months when authorities on Nov. 28, 2023, discovered the teen’s body while executing a series of search warrants on Scott’s property located in the 2300 block of N Oak Street, which is about 33 miles east of Indianapolis.
Scott told police he used his belt to strangle Valerie Tindall inside his home on June 7 — a belt he continued to wear afterward — claiming she was trying to blackmail him, then buried her in a “box” he constructed the following day.
Scott, who was the teen’s employer as well as her neighbor, was arrested and initially charged with one count each of murder, obstruction of justice, providing false information that substantially hinders the law enforcement process. In January, he reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the murder charge in exchange for having the remaining charges dismissed.
In addition to the 57-year sentence, Scott was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to Tindall’s family. He was credited with 139 days of time already served.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, authorities summarized Tindall’s murder as follows:
Patrick Scott admitted to using his belt and placing it around Valerie Tindall’s neck until she was deceased. Patrick Scott then moved Tindall’s body into the office where he stored her for the night. The next day Scott constructed a box and placed Tindall’s body into the box after wrapping it in plastic and taping it. The box was placed in a hole at Scott’s other property and then covered.
Tindall was reported missing by her family on June 8, 2023.
Authorities say after the girl’s body was discovered, Scott confessed to killing Tindall during a Mirandized interview, claiming she “got carried away” by trying to “blackmail him into buying her a car.”
“Scott advised Tindall tried to seduce him, and he wasn’t going to have it. I asked Scott what he did to Tindall, and he advised he ‘strangled her with a belt,’” the arrest report states. “I asked Scott where the belt he used [was], and he advised he didn’t remember, however, he still wore it afterwards.”
The arrest report also provided additional details about Scott’s explanation of how and why he allegedly killed Tindall.
“I asked Scott what was going through his head at that time, and he advised he didn’t know what to do with her. Scott advised he was trying to figure out what to do with her,” police wrote. “Scott advised he held the belt on her until she quit moving. I asked Scott if he knew she was dead then, and he advised, ‘I pretty much figured so.’”
He denied being in a sexual relationship with the girl, according to the arrest report. He said she was, however, “trying to come onto him” and said she was “going to tell people he was making moves on her.” At one point, he said, Valerie “had tried to take her clothes off, and he wasn’t going to do it,” according to the report.
“Scott advised him and Tindall had a pushing and shoving thing,” police wrote. “Scott advised [that] after[wards] he took his belt off and advised ‘I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit.”
Earlier this year, authorities confirmed Scott was the last person seen with Valerie before she went missing. He was initially charged in June with providing false information to police after he allegedly lied to investigators about his last interactions with Valerie, which he said ended when he dropped her off about five miles from her home and watched her get into the car of an unknown male.
However, Valerie’s mother, Shena Sandefur, said that the way Scott treated Valerie reminded her more of a “jealous boyfriend” than an employer. She claimed he was very involved in her personal life and did things like track Valerie’s phone. Sandefur also said that Scott told Valerie he planned to take her “someplace special” for lunch one day before she went missing.
Police took stock of those allegations in the arrest report.
“Valerie Tindall worked for Patrick Scott,” a section of the report about their relationship states. “Based [on] evidence, their relationship was questionable as they seemed very close. Scott was found to provide Tindall with money, food, gas, and took her on trips.”
The distraught mother told Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN that the family moved from Indianapolis because Valerie suffered some kind of “trauma” at a young age that made them want to trade the urban setting for someplace more rural.
“We moved away from Indy to get away from violence,” Sandefur said. “And we moved across the street from her predator.”
The victim’s father, Jack Tindall, told the station that after his daughter went missing, Scott even came to the house to console them.
“He had no remorse,” Jack Tindall told the station. “She worked for him for more than two years and there’s no remorse at all.”
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