A Columbus man is charged with pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor and tampering with evidence in connection with a missing teenage girl from Indiana who disappeared Jan. 5 and whom authorities there believe is dead.
Tyler Thomas, 39, of Columbus’ Victorian Village neighborhood, is being held in the Franklin County jail and is scheduled for a hearing Monday, Feb. 2, in a Franklin County court.
Hailey Buzbee, 17, of Fishers, Indiana, a suburb north of Indianapolis, was last seen by her parents about 10 p.m. Feb. 5 near her home, police there said in a news conference Feb. 1. A vehicle in the area at the time was traced back to Thomas, whom Fishers police said met Buzbee through online gaming.
Police said they talked to Thomas within a few days of her disappearance, and he told them he’d dropped Buzbee off on the side of the road in western Ohio. Police soon determined that statement was not true and worked with law enforcement partners in Ohio to search Thomas’ home and vehicle, the Indianapolis Star, a USA TODAY network newspaper reported.
Because of evidence obtained and from statements made by the suspect, Fishers police say they believe Buzbee is dead and are working to find her body.
Court records state that Thomas picked up Buzbee in the early morning of Jan. 6 and that child sexual abuse material containing photo images and video of the missing juvenile girl were found on digital devices belonging to Thomas during a warrant search of his home on Hunter Avenue on Jan. 21. A video of the missing juvenile was located in a file that Thomas deleted, court records state.
Fishers police said Thomas spent time with the missing girl at his home in Columbus and at a short-term rental in Hocking County, where sheriff’s deputies searched the rental and deployed a drone and dogs in an effort to help locate Buzbee, the Indy Star reported.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man charged with deleting sex video of missing Indiana girl
Reporting by Jim Wilhelm, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
