Valerie Tindall was seventeen years old when she lost her life at the hands of her neighbor, and boss who had grown overly possessive of her. He str*angled her to de*ath before burying her in his compound in a homemade wooden box.
The Beginning
Valerie Leona Tindall was born on August 29, 2005, to Jack T. Tindall and Shena S. Sandefur. Tindal was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but she lived in another city, Arlington when she was k*illed.
Tindall loved animals and had dreams of becoming a veterinarian. Before her painful demise, she was in 11th grade at Rushville Consolidated High School in Rushville, Indiana, and was supposed to graduate this year, 2024. She always kept herself busy after school and on weekends with different jobs. She worked at Dominos, McDonalds, and in her neighbor’s lawn mowing business.
Valeria Tindall Goes Missing
On June 7, 2023, she disappeared without leaving any traces. Tindall was 17, 5 feet and 6 inches tall, and weighed about 162 pounds with her long brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes. She was last seen in Arlington, wearing jean shorts, sandals, and a light blue shirt.
Every effort to locate her was unsuccessful leading the police to issue statewide Silver Alerts on June 10.
Tindall had an unusual friendship with her neighbor, 59-year-old Patrick Scott. Scott who lived less than 100 yards away from the Tindalls was considered the family’s friend. He hired Tindall to work in his lawn mowing business. However, as time passed, Tindall’s mother, Shena, started noticing an unusual interest Scott had in her daughter. He would track her phone and behave like a jealous boyfriend. She initially thought it was weird, but dismissed the thoughts because Scott was considered a good man, and she believed he just had a special bond with her daughter.
Following Tindall’s disappearance, Scott was interviewed but he claimed to have dropped her off at her place after the day’s work.
Finding Tindall
Months later, on October 11, a team of cadaver-sniffing dogs hinted at the presence of decomposition in a pond close to Scott’s house. Authorities searched the area but came up with nothing.
The dog handlers speculated the odor could have come from somewhere else, possibly a runoff into the ponds. This meant the decomposing body most likely was not in the water.
This led the authorities to search nearby houses. When Scott’s property was searched, they found a huge pile of debris and de*ath in his compound.
They investigated further, and using a shovel unearthed a homemade rectangular wooden box. Opening the box, they found human remains. They closely examined the body and discovered it had orange-painted fingernails, similar to the ones Tindall had before she disappeared.
Two days later, the Rush County Coroner confirmed the remains were those of Valerie Tindall.
Scott was quickly arrested and held without bonds. He later confessed to the crimes. He claimed he had ki*lled Tindall because tried to blackmail him into buying a car for her, a red Mustang convertible. The day she went missing, the pair had met up before he drove her to his house where an argument erupted that led to him st*rangling her with his belt. He callously described what happened, saying, “I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit.”
When asked how he felt after st*rangling her, he responded, “Well, I wasn’t too crazy about it.”
Investigators also found records of Scott buying the materials he used in constructing the box. He had left the body in his office while he built the box.
