Law enforcement authorities in Indiana say the search for a 17-year-old girl who had been missing for nearly six months came to a tragic end this week when investigators discovered the girl’s body stuffed into a barrel and buried in a neighbor’s yard only a few hundred feet from her family’s home. Patrick Scott, 59, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with the one count of murder of Valerie Tindall, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Rushville County Sheriff’s Office, investigators from federal, state, and local law enforcement entities discovered the teen’s body on Nov. 28 while executing a series of search warrants directly connected to Valerie’s disappearance on Scott’s property located in the 2300 block of N Oak Street.
Patrick Scott and Valerie Tindall (Rush County Sheriff’s Office); Investigators searching for the Valerie’s body (WXIN screenshot)
The release said that “substantial investigative activity” was required to discover the body of Tindall, who had first been reported missing by her parents on June 8, 2023, with investigators executing more than 50 search warrants during the duration of the search.
Authorities said that Scott, who was a friend of the family and owned the lawn care business where Tindall was employed, had been identified as a person of interest “early” in the case. The sheriff’s office noted that the Rush County Coroner had been dispatched to the property to determine the cause and manner of death, and to “begin the process of positively identifying the remains.”
Valerie’s remains were found stuffed in a barrel and buried beneath the rubbled remains of a garage that Scott had allegedly burned down shortly after Valerie went missing.
“This is not the outcome we had all hoped for,” Rush County Sheriff Allan Rice said in a statement following Scott’s arrest. “This case is still under investigation to ensure those responsible are successfully prosecuted.”
Dan McLane, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service, provided additional details regarding the circumstances that led to Scott’s arrest during a Wednesday news conference, saying agents “were able to develop and follow leads pertinent to Valerie’s movement on the day of her disappearance as well as the activity of the suspect,” McLane said. ”
According to a report from Indianapolis CBS affiliate WXIN, Scott was the last person seen with Valerie before she went missing. He was charged in June with providing false information to police after he reportedly 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, told the station that the way Scott treated Valerie reminded her more of a “jealous boyfriend” than an employer, in which he allegedly did things such as track Valerie’s phone. Sandefur also noted Scott allegedly told Valerie he was planning to take her “someplace special” for lunch one day before she went missing.
The distraught mother told 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. And we moved across the street from her predator,” Sandefur said.
Authorities said the investigation into Scott is “far from over,” and are asking anyone with information relevant to the case to contact Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS or the Rush County Sheriffs Department at (765) 932-2931.
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