Police have arrested a 33-year-old man in the slaying of two men in Martin County.
Indiana State Police said in a news release that the suspect from Shoals was arrested Wednesday. He faces two preliminary charges of murder for the deaths of 82-year-old Alan Sims and 52-year-old Tom Tharp.
Tharp had been reported missing by his family Tuesday night and authorities were searching for his car, a green ’97 Pontiac Sunfire.
Wednesday morning before 10-am, police say they went to Sims’ property in Dover Hill to look for Tharp, and found Sims dead in a garage.
The investigation led to 33-year-old Nathan Baker of Shoals who investigators learned had once lived on Sims’ property and was asked to leave, yet had been seen on the property multiple times over the last several days.
Wednesday afternoon, Lawrence County, Indiana deputies located the Pontiac traveling northbound on State Road 450. After initiating a stop, the driver, later identified as Baker, led deputies in a chase that ended on State Road 158 when the car crashed. A shotgun believed to be the murder weapon was found in the car. Baker was arrested on the scene about 2:30-pm.
While officers were again searching the Sims’ property, officers reported they found Tharp’s body lying in a garden, 30 yards south of the detached garage in which Sims was located. Tharp is said to have also suffered a single gunshot wound.
Baker is charged with two counts of murder, level 1 felonies and remains in the Martin County Jail.
