An Indiana man was sentenced to 57 years in jail Monday for the murder of his 17-year-old neighbor, who was discovered buried in his backyard last year after being gone for more than five months, according to court documents.
A plea agreement also requires Patrick Scott, 59, to give the victim’s family $10,000 in compensation.
Scott was charged with murder in November after admitting to strangling Valerie Tindall with a belt during an argument at his house in June, according to an investigator’s criminal homicide report. Tindall allegedly worked for Scott, who operated a lawn mowing service.
Scott consented to a plea deal in January that eliminated charges of obstruction of justice and providing false information to a law enforcement official, and on Monday, a judge accepted the plea and sentencing.
Tindall’s body was recovered in late November in a box in Scott’s backyard. He informed Rush County Sheriff’s Office detectives that he strangled Tindall on June 7, according to authorities.
Scott stated that the next day, he made a box and placed Tindall’s body inside after covering it in black plastic and taping it, according to the report.
Detectives were able to identify the child using orange fingernail lacquer, which Tindall was last seen wearing in a social media post on June 7.
CNN has contacted the Rush County Sheriff’s Office and the Rush County Coroner to obtain information regarding Tindall’s cause of death.
