ARLINGTON, Ind. — The nearly six-month-long search for Valerie Tindall has finally come to a heartbreaking end, NewsNation affiliate WXIN reports.
According to a source, 17-year-old Valerie Tindall's body was discovered just a hundred yards or less from her family's backdoor on Tuesday afternoon, hidden inside a barrel on her neighbor's property — the barrel buried beneath a pile of rubble.
“We moved away from Indy to get away from violence. And we moved across the street from her predator," said Valerie's mother, Shena Sandefur.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Rush County Sheriff's Department confirmed that human remains were found on Tuesday in Arlington as more than 40 federal agents and local law enforcement officers descended upon the property of Patrick Scott.
Scott, 59, was booked into the Rush County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder on Tuesday evening after the discovery of the remains. At this time, police cannot confirm the human remains are those of Valerie Tindall. The Rush County Coroner will make that determination.
Scott, who was not only the neighbor of Valerie Tindall but employed the 17-year-old in his lawn care business, was the last person seen with the girl before she vanished on June 7. His Tuesday arrest came on the heels of federal agents descending on his Arlington property to search the premises for at least the second time since the teenager went missing.
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.
A source told WXIN it was during Tuesday's search that the barrel was uncovered and the girl's gruesome fate at last unveiled.
Scott previously was charged in late June with false informing 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 said she began feeling uneasy about the attention Scott was paying to her daughter. The mother said Scott acted like a "jealous boyfriend" and tracked Valerie's phone. But Sadefur said her daughter didn't see anything wrong with it since Scott was her boss.
Either way, 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 had been 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, however, 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 FOX59/CBS4 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 that contained Valerie's body 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, the mother 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.
"I wanted to get her help and she wouldn't and I think he took advantage of that," she said.
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 locked behind bars.
For Rush County Sheriff Allan 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 "justice will be sought for Valerie" and said that 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.