01 December 2023 , 13:22
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The alleged killer of 17-year-old Valerie Tindall has told police he strangled the girl before burying her body in a box he constructed for the purpose, court documents reveal. Patrick Scott, 59, was Valerie's neighbour and was arrested on November 28, as police searched for the teenager who had been missing since June.
She was employed by Scott's landscaping company, but had not been spotted since June 7. On November 29, the Rush County Sheriff's Department charged Scott with murder, after investigators discovered human remains on his property, which, according to Rush County Indiana Sheriff Allan Rice, are thought to be Valerie's.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Rice said: "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. Justice will be sought."
But WXIN 's court documents have revealed the full extent of the crime. When searching the property on November 28, before Scott was put in custody, officials found two homemade boxes.
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17-year-old Valerie Tindall (Rush County Sheriff's Department)One box had human remains in, and the officer glimpsed orange nail polish on the hands of the body. It was the exact shade that Valerie was wearing on her nails, in a photo shared to social media on June 7 - the final day she was seen alive.
Another box located at the property had VHS tapes and paperwork, court documents stated. Following the discovery, Scott was questioned in custody, and allegedly confessed to killing the teenager.
Speaking to police, he allegedly said he strangled her with a belt and then continued to wear it afterwards. He added: "I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit".
Soon after, investigators found records from June 8 of Scott purchasing materials like oriented stand boards and 2x4s, to build the boxes. He reportedly told police that he had purchased the boards with the specific purpose of building a box for the girl's body.
Police at the scene where the remains were found (CBS4)Before constructing the box, Valerie's body was in the office, and the suspected killer wrapped her in plastic, before putting the body in the box and sealing it shut, with just one hole in it.
Likewise, he said he used the second box to "put s*** in". In June, Valerie had told her parents she was heading to work for Scott, it's reported.
Mobile phone records identify her last known location as not far from Scott's home, according to WXIN. On June 10, Indiana State Police issued a Silver Alert, but Scott's stories regarding the last time he spotted her alive are unreliable.
In the days following her disappearance, he offered Valerie's parents support, and on October 11, investigators started searching Scott's property using cadaver dogs. The animals found a body somewhere on the property on October 12, with WXIN reporting "multiple areas of obvious ground disturbance".
On November 27, search warrants for Scott's property were requested, which prompted the gruesome discovery on November 28. Speaking in an interview, Scott told police that his wife and daughter "don't know nothing" about Valerie's murder.
He told police he and Valerie had gone out to eat together as a break from work, and insisted he had no plans to kill the teen, but it "just kind of happened." He met Valerie on June 7, across from Shelbyville High School.
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A sniffer dog at the scene (CBS4)According to court documents, Scott believed Valerie was going to try and seduce or blackmail him. He said Valerie was "coming on to him" and was attempting to convince him to purchase a car, local NBC affiliate WTHR said in coverage of the court documents.
Scott said Valerie "got carried away" and started taking her clothes off. Then Scott used his belt to strangle the teenager.
When he was questioned as to if he was concerned that he killed the teenager, Scott allegedly said: "Well, I wasn't too crazy about it." On Thursday, he appeared in Rush County Circuit Court and has been charged with obstruction of justice and false informing.