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Grim new information has been revealed about the murder case involving a missing 17-year-old Indiana girl whose body was discovered earlier this week buried inside a makeshift coffin in the backyard belonging to her 59-year-old neighbor and lawn care business employer.
The suspected killer, Patrick Scott, 59, told police he used his belt to strangle Valerie Tindall inside his home on June 7 — a belt he continued to wear afterward — claiming she was trying to blackmail him, then buried her in a “box” he constructed the following day, according to a police report obtained by Law&Crime.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, investigators from federal, state, and local law enforcement entities discovered the teen’s body on Tuesday while executing a series of search warrants connected to Valerie’s disappearance on Scott’s property in the 2300 block of North Oak Street of Arlington, Indiana.
Scott was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of murder, according to the Rush County Sheriff’s Department.
The police report offers the following summary of the girl’s murder:
Patrick Scott admitted to using his belt and placing it around Valerie Tindall’s neck until she was deceased. Patrick Scott then moved Tindall’s body into the office where he stored her for the night. The next day Scott constructed a box and placed Tindall’s body into the box after wrapping it in plastic and taping it. The box was placed in a hole at Scott’s other property and then covered.
Valerie was reported missing on June 8.
Authorities say after the girl’s body was discovered, Scott confessed to killing Tindall during a Mirandized interview, claiming she “got carried away” by trying to “blackmail him into buying her a car.”
“Scott advised Tindall tried to seduce him, and he wasn’t going to have it. I asked Scott what he did to Tindall, and he advised he ‘strangled her with a belt,”” the arrest report states. “I asked Scott where the belt he used [was], and he advised he didn’t remember, however, he still wore it afterwards.”
The arrest report also provided additional details about Scott’s explanation of how and why he allegedly killed Tindall.
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“I asked Scott what was going through his head at that time, and he advised he didn’t know what to do with her. Scott advised he was trying to figure out what to do with her,” police wrote. “Scott advised he held the belt on her until she quit moving. I asked Scott if he knew she was dead then, and he advised, ‘I pretty much figured so.’”
He denied being in a sexual relationship with the girl, according to the arrest report. He said she was, however, “trying to come onto him” and said she was “going to tell people he was making moves on her.” At one point, he said, Valerie “had tried to take her clothes off, and he wasn’t going to do it,” according to the report.
“Scott advised him and Tindall had a pushing and shoving thing,” police wrote. “Scott advised [that] after[wards] he took his belt off and advised ‘I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit.”
Patrick Scott and Valerie Tindall (Rush County Sheriff’s Office); Investigators searching for Valerie’s body (WXIN screenshot)
Earlier this year, authorities confirmed Scott was the last person seen with Valerie before she went missing. He was initially charged in June with providing false information to police after he allegedly 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, said that the way Scott treated Valerie reminded her more of a “jealous boyfriend” than an employer. She claimed he was very involved in her personal life and did things like track Valerie’s phone. Sandefur also said that Scott told Valerie he planned to take her “someplace special” for lunch one day before she went missing.
Police took stock of those allegations in the arrest report.
“Valerie Tindall worked for Patrick Scott,” a section of the report about the victim’s and suspect’s relationship reads. “Based [on] evidence, their relationship was questionable as they seemed very close. Scott was found to provide Tindall with money, food, gas, and took her on trips.”
The distraught mother told Indianapolis-based CBS affiliate 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,” Sandefur said. “And we moved across the street from her predator.”
