Man who killed Rush County teen sentenced

17-year-old Valerie Tindall was killed this summer

Tindall went missing in June

(RUSHVILLE, Ind.) – A Rush County man has been sentenced to 57 years in prison after a teenager was abducted and killed last summer. 

17-year-old Valerie Tindall disappeared from her Rush County home in June. 

She was missing until her remains were found on the property of 57-year-old Patrick Scott in November. 

Scott strangled Tindall to death with a belt and then buried her body on his property, investigators said. 

The Rush County Sheriff’s Office says Scott was a suspect from nearly the beginning but it was complicated by him having a lawn mowing business with access to many remote locations. 

Scott was sentenced Monday

A search warrant was executed on November 28 when Tindal’s remains were found. 

Scott took a plea deal for the murder in exchange for all other charges being dropped. He was sentenced inside of a Rush County courtroom on Monday.

"Our agency is fully aware of the effects this tragedy has had on our community and wants the public to understand that we took this case seriously from the start, which led to this arrest and conviction," the sheriff's office said. "

There are several narratives that have been inaccurately reported during this investigation. When you combine the inaccuracies in timeline of events. location of events, and details of events, they give the false perception of missed red flags, which is not accurate. The accurate timeline and true narrative provided the foundation which led to this ease being solved, and ultimately, to a conviction."