The body of a missing Indiana teen is believed to have been found in central Ohio, according to an attorney involved in the death.
Sam Shamansky, an attorney for 39-year-old Tyler Thomas, said Feb. 2 that authorities believe they found the body of 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee in Perry County.
Thomas led the FBI to Buzby’s body on February 1, Shamansky said.
Thomas, of Columbus, Ohio, was charged with pandering to sexually explicit material involving a minor and tampering with evidence. A search of Thomas’ phone included pornographic videos and photos of Buzbee, some of which Thomas tried to delete, according to court records.
Buzbee, who lives in the Indianapolis suburb of Fisher and attends Hamilton Southeast High School, was last seen by her parents on January 5. It is believed she met Thomas through an online gaming platform and left her home voluntarily to meet him. Fishers police said a car in the area as Buzby left his home was traced to Thomas’s.
haley buzbee
Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Jim O’Grady set Thomas’ bond at $1.5 million on Jan. 31, before Thomas could attend any hearing.
On Feb. 1, Thomas was temporarily dismissed or released from the FBI for investigative purposes and returned to the Franklin County Jail, court records said.
Thomas appeared in Municipal Court for a bond hearing on February 2. Judge Jarrod Skinner set the $1.5 million bond and ordered Thomas not to go online or have unsupervised visits with minors after he posted the content and was released, court records show.
Officials spoke with Thomas in the days after Buzby disappeared. Thomas reportedly told detectives he dropped Buzby on the side of the road in western Ohio, but an investigation found that was not true.
Buzbee was initially classified as a runaway, but her case was upgraded to “endangered missing juvenile” on January 20.
On January 21, police searched Thomas’ vehicle and home and found evidence that Buzbee had been there and at a short-term rental in Hocking County. Thomas has not been charged with murder, according to court records in Franklin and Perry counties.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter), @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: Haley Buzbee’s body found in Ohio, lawyer says
