Jeremy Farmer found guilty of killing his dad, whose remains were found in storage unit

2023-04-07 19:42:47 Written by Alex

A man from Indianapolis, Jeremy Farmer, has been convicted of murdering his father, hiding his body in a storage unit in Brownsburg, and then boasting about it to his family. The verdict was announced on Wednesday in Marion Superior Court, where Jeremy, aged 39, was found guilty of the murder charge related to the death of his father, Roger Farmer.

Roger, who was also known as Fred, was reported missing in December 2019, and his body was discovered inside a storage facility about 18 months later. According to court documents filed during Jeremy's arrest in February 2021, he deliberately shot and killed his father sometime between November and December 2019.

The case against Jeremy was initiated on December 27, 2019, after Fred's daughter contacted the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to report her father missing. She informed detectives that she had not seen her father since November 22, when he was at his residence on the west side of the city.

The daughter also revealed that she had been receiving texts from her father's phone, but the language and grammar used in the messages were not consistent with her father's communication style. The texts contained emojis and punctuation that her father "never used."

Following the report, a missing person case was opened, and a year-long citywide search commenced.

As part of the investigation into Fred's disappearance, detectives from the IMPD were informed by his daughter that she had reviewed her father's financial information and noticed a negative balance, which was unusual. Additionally, financial records revealed transactions taking place after Fred had gone missing.

Upon obtaining a search warrant, the IMPD discovered multiple purchases made between November and December 2019. One of the purchases, documented in court records, was made for $225.73 at a Lowe's store located on Michigan Road.

The IMPD retrieved surveillance footage from the Lowe's store, which revealed a man identified by his sister as Jeremy Farmer, making the purchase.
Farmer, court docs state, bought cleaning supplies including:

Heavy Duty Cleaning Wipes,
Febreze
extra heavy plastic drop cloths
a 96-gallon two-wheel trash can
extra heavy plastic drop cloths
germicidal bleach
a Duracell flashlight
Tide detergent pods
Venom-brand latex gloves
Febreze
a 96-gallon two-wheel trash can
Due to the suspicious financial activity and the extended duration of Fred's disappearance, homicide detectives took over the case on January 13, 2020, as stated by the IMPD.
Subsequently, the homicide units discovered that contact information for several of Fred's credit card accounts had been altered to Jeremy's email address, jeremyj.yeary@gmail.com.

During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Fred had previously contacted the IMPD to report that his son, Jeremy, had allegedly stolen his credit card.

According to court documents, Fred's daughter informed IMPD detectives that she was aware that her father had gone on a hunting trip, but she did not know the location. She also stated that when she asked Jeremy about their father's whereabouts, he provided inconsistent stories.

“Jeremy had said that their father had gone hunting in Paragon, Indiana, and then said it might
have been someplace else but he was not sure,” a probable cause affidavit filed against Jeremy reads.

A close friend of Fred's informed the IMPD that Jeremy had stolen from Fred on several occasions and that Fred suspected that Jeremy had fraudulently opened a charge card in his name. The same friend also expressed doubts about Jeremy's claim that Fred had gone to Versailles, Indiana to hunt.

Although the IMPD was unsure of Fred's location, they were able to access the location history of his cell phone, which indicated that it had not moved from the Wayne Township area on the west side of Indianapolis. Additionally, Jeremy's phone was detected near his father's phone since the time of Fred's disappearance.

IMPD detectives uncovered additional evidence against Jeremy when they interviewed one of his former roommates. The roommate revealed that Fred and Jeremy had been living together and had an unstable relationship.

Moreover, the roommate informed detectives that Jeremy's ex-stepbrother had claimed that Jeremy had boasted about murdering Fred. This claim was subsequently corroborated by the ex-stepbrother himself.

IMPD initially interviewed Jeremy on Jan. 21, 2020, at the homicide office. Although detectives stated that they wanted to learn about Fred's routines, court documents revealed that Jeremy "consistently wanted to talk about trouble" between his father and his roommate.

During the interview, Jeremy claimed to have heard a rumor that Fred's roommate had shot him and stored his body in a freezer at Fred's house on Wandering Way. Jeremy further stated that the only freezer in the house was attached to the refrigerator in the kitchen.

However, photographs taken at Fred's house contradicted Jeremy's statement to the police, revealing the presence of a large chest-type freezer in the garage.

Surveillance conducted on Jeremy revealed that he had been driving a brand new black 2019 GMC Sierra, which his father had purchased just before his disappearance. Additionally, Fred's phone had started pinging at the house where Jeremy was parking the truck recently.
On February 8, 2020, Jeremy was called to the IMPD homicide office again and confronted with the evidence collected by the police. When asked about his purchase of cleaning supplies at Lowe's, Jeremy requested an attorney. The police then seized his iPhone, which had a cracked case on the back, and he was arrested for felony murder.

A few months later, in May 2021, human remains were discovered by the Brownsburg Police Department in a storage facility on Green Street after witnesses reported the smell of decomposing flesh in one of the units. The remains were later identified as those of Fred, who had been missing since November 2019. The cause of his death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head, and his death was ruled a homicide.

According to IMPD, the storage unit where Fred's body was discovered was rented by Jeremy. On Wednesday, April 5th, Judge Jennifer Harrison found Jeremy guilty of felony murder. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 28th at 1 p.m.