Arcadia man arrested in investigation of 1992 murder

Body of victim found in ravine without head, hands & feet

By GREGG MONTGOMERY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

Editor’s note: Reader discretion is advised as the following story contains graphic details.

A 53-year-old suspect has been charged with the murder of a Hamilton County man whose body – with its head, hands and feet removed – was found in a Putnam County ravine in 1992, authorities said Tuesday afternoon.

Tony J. Bledsoe, Arcadia, was 24 years old when he was reported missing by his wife on March 16, 1992, from Arcadia, a town in northern Hamilton County. Bledsoe was last seen leaving home in a gray 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the license plate “TJSTOY.”

Bledsoe’s remains were found April 3, 1992, at a dump, a ravine on Putnam County Road 900 West just south of U.S. 40. County Road 900 West is the border of Parke and Putnam counties. The rural area about 4 miles east of the city of Brazil.

After a grand jury was convened, Thomas L. Anderson Jr., Arcadia, was arrested Tuesday, and a murder charge was filed against him in Hamilton Circuit Court. He was listed as an inmate at the Hamilton County jail in Noblesville on Tuesday night.

An autopsy in 1992 determined the body may have been at the dump up to 18 days before it was found. Police before Tuesday had not shared that the body was missing its head, hands and feet. The back had stab marks, and an autopsy later determined the body had been stabbed six times. The remaining body was tied up and covered in what investigators at the time called “a black substance.”

DNA secured in September 2019 from Bledsoe’s mother in the town of Atlanta helped investigators to identify the body, 27 years after it was located.

“Once we had the John Doe, the remains for so many years, once we were able to generate a DNA profile for the Bledsoe family and identify him that way,” said Indiana State Police PIO Sgt. John Perrine.

Indiana State Police say the investigation is not concluded.

The case received renewed scrutiny in October when the Atlanta Town Hall, in northern Hamilton County, was targeted in a state police investigation. Atlanta officials at the time put Andy Emmert, who serves as its utility superintendent and building commissioner, on administrative leave. Emmert’s home also was part of a state police search at the same time as the Town Hall.

“At this point in time we only have enough information to charge one person, Thomas Anderson. This remains an open investigation,” said Josh Kocher, Hamilton County Chief Deputy Prosecutor. “We are still looking for potential other suspects.”

Officials said there was only enough evidence to charge Anderson.

Court documents in Anderson’s case say state police in 2018 and 2019 reopened the case. Anderson’s nephew, Scottie Anderson, told investigators his uncle said that he and Emmert had witnessed “the entire thing.”

Indiana State Police Lt. Terry Joshua Watson wrote in Anderson’s probable cause document about a Sept. 4, 2019, interview including Scottie and Arcadia Police Chief Todd Uhrick:

Scottie told us the entire thing was over Tony hassling Andy about a stolen car. Scottie told us Tommy brought Tony over to Andy’s house and Andy shot Tony in the head with a shotgun. Scottie then told us Andy and Tommy cut up Tony’s body and dumped it off bridges all over the state of Indiana. They cut off his head, hands, and feet and put them in a bucket full of concrete.

Thomas Anderson has spoken with investigators three times since September 2019, court documents say. He told investigators that he and Emmert had been friends since elementary school, and they’d lived in the same duplex along State Road 19 in Noblesville in the early 1990s.

Court documents say Anderson told investigators he and Emmert in 1990 stole a Pontiac Firebird together in Racine, Wis., and brought it to the town of Atlanta in northern Hamilton County. They stripped the aftermarket stereo from the Firebird, and burned the rest of the car and buried it somewhere in Boone County.

A report from Racine police said the stereo system was worth $3,000.

Next, Emmert traded the stereo to Bledsoe in exchange for auto parts. Bledsoe later felt “he got ripped off in the deal because the stereo was stolen,” and a grudge ensued between the two men.

After Anderson moved out from living with Emmert, Anderson said he and Bledsoe went the duplex where Emmert continued to live. Here’s how the investigator described what Anderson said about the encounter:

Anderson and Bledsoe entered through the back door which opens to the kitchen. Anderson walked in first with Bledsoe following him. Anderson stated he heard a loud bang and looked over his shoulder to see Bledsoe shot in the head. Anderson said Bledsoe then fell backwards into the wall and forwards onto the kitchen floor. Anderson stated Bledsoe was still breathing a gargling. Anderson said Emmert was standing in the doorway between Emmert’s bedroom and the kitchen holding a rifle. Anderson saw Emmert stab Bledsoe several times with a fixed blade knife. Anderson struck Bledsoe in the head with a ball bat.

Anderson elaborated on the knife describing it as a ‘Boy Scout knife’ with a shiny, fixed blade that now had rust on it, a leather handle, and a metal pommel. A knife matching that description was located at Emmert’s residence when a search warrant was done on October 2 2024, in Emmert’s safe. An autopsy determined the knife could have been created by such a knife.

Anderson stated he and Emmert burned the bat that he had hit Bledsoe with.

Anderson stated he and Emmert moved Bledsoe’s body down the hall and into the bathtub. Emmert told Anderson they needed to make the body unidentifiable. Emmert cut off Bledsoe’s head, hands, and feet. Then, Emmert and Anderson placed the head, hands, and feet in a ‘pickle bucket’ full of concrete.

Then they wrapped Bledsoe’s body in cord and spray painted the body black to make it more concealable. They spray painted Bledsoe’s body outside, in the back yard of the duplex in Noblesville, leaned up a shed in the back yard.

The investigator learned from Anderson that he and Emmert then wrapped Bledsoe’s body and put it in the truck of the car of Anderson’s girlfriend and drove west “to a place with ‘Green’ in the name or near it.” Anderson knew of a large ravine there where people had thrown out their trash for years.

The case sat cold since 1992 until it started picking up again in 2018.

“It certainly makes things difficult and that’s why cold cases always present serious challenges. But that is something we are dedicated to continuing to search these cases out,” Kocher said.

The county seat of Putnam County is Greencastle. The dumpsite is about 10 miles west of Greencastle.

Anderson said he and Emmert dumped the body in the ravine and covered it with a piece of wood. They burned the tarp in which the body had been wrapped, and then returned home.

Authorities with the state police and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest and shared the court documents during a news conference at the Hamilton County Government & Judicial Center in downtown Noblesville.

This public announcement came after officials met with the family.

“It was a very emotional experience for them as you would expect. I think they are relieved to be taking a step forward toward justice and to know this has been an unanswered question,” Kocher said. “They didn’t know if tony had just, he was a missing person for so long, so, to know he didn’t abandon them that instead this happened.”

This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/authorities-arrest-hamilton-county-suspect-for-murder-of-man-missing-since-1992.