Patrick Scott is an alleged killer from Indiana who has been charged with the murder of missing seventeen year old Valerie Tindall
According to court documents seventeen year old Valerie Tindall told her parents that she was leaving for work, she worked for Patrick Scott in a landscaping position, and was not seen from again. That was back in June 2023
Police dogs were searching the area looking for Valerie Tindall when they alerted to the smell of human decomposition close to the property owned by Patrick Scott. A further search would reveal human remains that were later identified as Valerie Tindall
Patrick Scott would be arrested and reportedly told police that he had killed the missing teenager by strangling her with a belt as according to him she attempted to blackmail and seduce him. After killing Valerie Tindall Scott would put her remains in a homemade box and buried her
Patrick Scott has been charged with murder
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A 59-year-old man suspected in the June disappearance of a 17-year-old neighbor has been charged with murder after human remains were found buried in a pit on his central Indiana property.
Patrick Scott of Arlington appeared Thursday in Rush County Circuit Court for an initial hearing. Scott also is charged with obstruction of justice and false informing.
He was ordered jailed without bond. A public defender has been appointed to represent him, court records show. A person who answered the phone at the Rush County Public Defender’s office said Thursday that the office had no comment on the case.
Valerie Tindall told her parents on June 7 that she was going to work. She worked for Scott who owned a lawn mowing business, according to court documents which detailed that Tindall met Scott and he drove her back to his home early that afternoon.
Arlington is about 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Tindall later was reported missing.
On Oct. 11, cadaver-sniffing dogs indicated the smell of decomposition in a pond near Scott’s property, but a search failed to turn up anything. One of the dog handlers told police that water is known to hold odor and that the smell could have come from runoff into the pond.
Police on Tuesday found a large dirt pile and debris on Scott’s property. Using shovels, they dug up a rectangular box wrapped in tarp. Inside the box were human remains which included fingernails painted with orange polish, documents said.
Police said that a photo posted to social media on June 7 showed Tindall with orange-colored nails.
The Associated Press left messages Thursday with Rush County Coroner asking if the remains had been identified as those of Tindall.
Sheriff Allan Rice told reporters the remains likely belong to Tindall.
“This is not the outcome we had all hoped for, but I want to stress to the public that this case is far from over,” Rice said Wednesday. “Justice will be sought.”
Scott was arrested Tuesday and told investigators he strangled Tindall with his belt in the bedroom of his home when she tried to blackmail and seduce him, according to court documents.
Shena Sandefur told WRTV-TV that her daughter worked for Scott and that the family trusted him.
“She and him had a bond. They were friends,” Sandefur said. “She worked for him, but she also hung out with his family. His granddaughter was her friend, and we went places with them.”
https://www.foxnews.com/us/indiana-man-faces-murder-charges-disappearance-17-year-old-neighbor
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Court documents reveal that Patrick Scott, the neighbor and boss of missing teenager Valerie Tindall, reportedly admitted to officers that he killed the 17-year-old girl on June 7 — strangling her with a belt and then burying her in a homemade box in his backyard.
Patrick Scott, 59 of Arlington, was arrested on Tuesday evening after federal agents and local authorities descended upon his property in a concentrated search for the missing teenager who hadn’t been seen alive since June 7.
Previous reports detail how Scott was not only a trusted neighbor to Tindall and her family, but that the teenager worked for him as part of his landscaping company; mowing lawns in the summer.
On Wednesday, the Rush County Sheriff’s Department announced that Scott had been arrested on a preliminary charge of murder after human remains were found on his property. On Thursday, the Rush County Coroner positively identified the remains as those of Valerie Tindall.
Newly released court documents reveal that officers uncovered two homemade boxes made of 2x4s and oriented strand boards during the search of Scott’s property on Tuesday. Originally a source told FOX59/CBS4 that the human remains were found in a barrel. Court documents detail that the remains were actually found in one of the buried homemade boxes.
According to the documents, an officer observed the human remains located within the box and described “instantly” spotting orange fingernails on the deceased body. Police said the fingernail color matched a photograph found on social media of Valerie Tindall posted on June 7.
Inside the second homemade box were VHS tapes and miscellaneous paperwork.
Scott was taken into custody after the discovery of the human remains and questioned by police. During this questioning, Scott reportedly admitted to killing Valerie. He said his wife and daughter “don’t know nothing” about the killing and told officers he strangled Valerie with a belt; a belt Scott said he continued to wear after.
“I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit,” Scott allegedly described to police.
Investigators found records of Scott purchasing the 2x4s and the oriented strand boards at the Home Depot in Greenfield the day after Valerie vanished on June 7. He later told police he did purchase the boards to make the box he put Valerie’s body in. He said prior to making the box, Valerie’s body was in his office.
After making the box, Scott told officers he wrapped her in plastic, put her in the box and screwed it shut, then wheeled it out of his office on a dolly. He then put the box in a hole and went to work with a shovel to cover it up. Scott told officers the second box had been in the hole since July and that he used it to “put s*** in.”
When police asked if Scott hated Valerie, he said no and told officers the two had done all sorts of things together outside of working; like shopping and going out to eat.
Patrick Scott claimed he hadn’t planned to kill Valerie and that it “just kind of happened.” Scott also made claims that he thought Valerie was going to seduce him or try and blackmail him into buying her a new car.
“I just knew she wasn’t going to blackmail me,” he allegedly told an officer.
When asked if it bothered him that he killed Valerie, Patrick Scott reportedly said, “Well, I wasn’t too crazy about it.”
Valerie’s last known location, according to cell phone records, wasn’t far from Scott’s home. Her last phone activity was shortly before 1 p.m. on June 7. Previous reports detail how Scott gave inconsistent stories about last seeing Valerie and ended up being charged with false informing in June.
Court documents reveal that police searched Scott’s property with cadaver dogs on Oct. 11, with the dogs giving a positive indication of the presence of human remains within a pond on Scott’s property. However, a search of the pond didn’t uncover any remains.
Officers later spoke to the dog handlers and learned that water is known to hold scent and that wind could have carried the scent toward the pond. Police noted in their report that on Oct. 11 the wind was coming from the direction of Scott’s property where the homemade box would eventually be found.
Police reportedly ordered a topography study to also search for possible water run-off that drained into Patrick Scott’s pond along with ordering a flyover of the property as investigators attempted to zero in on the possible reason the cadaver dogs indicated possible human remains on Oct. 11.
During a flyover conducted on Oct. 12, police noted “multiple areas of obvious ground disturbance.” Search warrants were requested on Nov. 27 leading to nearly 40 federal agents and local law enforcement officers descending upon his property on Nov. 28.
The two buried homemade boxes were found underneath a pile of miscellaneous debris, according to the court documents. Previously, witnesses reported seeing Scott tear down and burn his garage at 2 a.m. not long after Valerie vanished.
Police said that when the box was uncovered, officers immediately noted the smell of decomposition despite the box being wrapped in a tarp with duct tape used on the seams.
Patrick Scott was officially charged with murder on Thursday, two days after the human remains were found on his property. He also is charged with obstruction of justice.
