- Valerie Tindall's body was found yesterday in a barrel on Patrick Scott's property
- The Indiana teen had been missing since June 7, when she was last seen with him
- He lives next door to her house and has hired her for his lawn care business
The 59-year-old neighbor of a missing Indiana teenager has been arrested for murder after police found her body under rubble in a barrel in the man's yard, just 100 yards from her family home.
Valerie Tindall, 17, disappeared from Arlington, Indiana on June 7. She was last seen with neighbor Patrick Scott, 59, for whom she worked.
Yesterday, police found her remains in a barrel on Scott's property. He is now in jail on suspicion of murder.
Patrick Scott, 59, has been arrested for the murder of 17-year-old Valerie Tindall. Her remains were found yesterday in a barrel on his property
Valerie disappeared from her home on June 7. Her body was found yesterday in her neighbour's garden, just 100 meters from where she went missing.
Details of the case, including Scott's motive and why they were together the day she disappeared, remain unclear.
Valerie worked for his landscaping company and was also friends with his granddaughter.
Now her family is reeling from the fact that she was murdered by someone posing as a friend.
“How on earth can you come into my yard, look us in the eye and act like our friends?” That's what Valerie's sad mother said on Thursday.
Valerie was last seen leaving the house on the afternoon of June 7, sparking a desperate police search.
Officers searched Patrick Scott's home in the Indianapolis suburb of Arlington yesterday and found the teenager's body. It is unclear whether this was the first search
Her family says Scott tried to comfort them as they waited for news, telling them she had probably run away.
When interviewed by police, Scott lied by claiming he saw Valerie get into a “light blue car.”
He said the vehicle was driven by a man whose face he could not make out.
Valerie's mother said the family “moved away from the violence” to a neighborhood where they thought they would be safe.
It is unclear where they lived previously.
Valerie was friends with Scott's granddaughter and also worked for him in his lawn care business