ARLINGTON, Ind. (WXIN) — The nearly six-month-long search for a missing Indiana teenager has come to an end, and a suspect has been taken into custody.
Valerie Tindall, 17, was reported missing in early June. In an alert issued at the time, the Rush County Sheriff’s Department said Tindall had last been seen driving a car. Authorities believed the Arlington, Indiana, teen may have been intentionally hiding and “receiving aid from individual(s) whose goal is to keep her hidden.”
The search for Tindall came to a tragic end this week. The Rush County Sheriff’s Department confirmed on Wednesday that human remains were found hidden inside a barrel on the property of Tindall’s neighbor, 59-year-old Patrick Scott.
More than 40 federal agents and local law enforcement officers descended upon Scott’s property for at least the second time on Tuesday.
Authorities were not able to confirm that the remains belonged to Tindall. The Rush County Coroner is working to identify them. The Rush County Coroner will make that determination but a source tells Nexstar’s WXIN and WTTV they are believed to be Tindall’s remains.
Scott has been booked into the Rush County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder on Tuesday evening after the discovery of the remains.
“Justice will be sought for Valerie,” Rush County Sheriff Allan Rice said during Wednesday’s press conference.
Police said Scott, Tindall’s neighbor who employed her in his lawn care business, was seen with the teen before she vanished on June 7. Previously, authorities searched a pond on Scott’s property. The Rush County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday that more than 50 search warrants have been executed over the last six months in relation to the case.
According to a source, it was during Tuesday’s search that the barrel was uncovered.
Scott was previously charged in late June with providing false information after police said he lied to officers and couldn’t keep his story straight about the last time he saw Valerie. Scott ultimately claimed he dropped her off in the town of Homer, roughly five miles south of Arlington, and said she got into a car with an unknown male.
According to Valerie’s mother, Shena Sandefur, another individual overheard Scott telling Valerie he was going to take her to Indianapolis for lunch on June 7 and that he planned to take the teenage girl “someplace special.”
Sandefur also said Scott acted like a “jealous boyfriend” and tracked Valerie’s phone.
Valerie was never seen by her loved ones again after June 7 and her car was found parked at an apartment complex in Shelbyville. Scott, who was spotted driving the car, told police he had moved the vehicle for Valerie after she’d met him in Shelbyville at an apartment complex, where the two departed in his lawn care truck.
The renewed search of Scott’s property by federal agents on Tuesday reportedly came after new tips surfaced about the man who last saw Valerie Tindall on June 7. The sheriff’s department would not comment on if any recent tips led to the renewed search on Tuesday, saying only that the search was a culmination of the ongoing investigation into Valerie.
Sandefur told Nexstar’s WXIN and WTTV about strange behavior exhibited by Scott, including being spotted tearing down and burning his garage at 2 a.m. not long after Valerie vanished.
The barrel containing human remains was reportedly found hidden underneath the rubble of the burned-down garage. Scott’s pickup truck was also hauled away by investigators on Tuesday.
Sandefur previously lamented about how the search for her daughter has failed to even turn up proof that the girl is still alive.
“She’s a really good person, sweet kid. She worked hard to get her grades up. She was gonna go to college, she was accepted, and now she’ll never have the chance,” Sandefur said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Sandefur reflected on her decision to move her daughter away from Indianapolis to rural Rush County. She said her daughter had experienced trauma at a young age, and she moved to the country to escape the violence.
“We moved away from Indy to get away from violence. And we moved across the street from her predator,” said Sandefur. “I wanted to get her help and she wouldn’t, and I think [Scott] took advantage of that.”
Arlington, a small town whose dwindling population fell below 300 in 2020, remains rocked by the case of the missing teenager and the arrest of a man whom her family trusted as a neighbor and a boss.
Now, the small town holds its breath and waits for further answers as Scott remains behind bars.
For Sheriff Rice, the case is “far from over.” Though an arrest has been made, investigators continue to pour over Scott’s property as the sheriff’s department turns its attention from an arrest to prosecution.
Rice said that “justice will be sought for Valerie,” and justice would come for “anyone involved.”
Anyone who thinks they may have spotted Valerie Tindall in the company of an older man in Shelbyville or the eastside of Indianapolis on June 7 should call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS or the Rush County Sheriffs Department at (765) 932-2931.
Russ McQuaid contributed to this report.
