An elderly man is shot in his home On the morning of December 8, 2012, 85-year-old Lowell R. Badger, a Caucasian male, was found deceased by his son on the bedroom floor of his rural home in Merom, Indiana. An investigation revealed that the retired farmer had been shot and killed sometime between the evening of Friday, December 7, and the morning he was discovered. The home had been burglarized, and a pristine safe, manufactured by John D.
Brush and Company, along with a 46-inch Sony Bravia television, were stolen from the residence.
For years, the case remained cold despite hundreds of interviews and tips investigated by the Indiana State Police and the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office. Law enforcement utilized various resources, including aircraft, all-terrain vehicles, and SCUBA divers, in their extensive search for evidence. A reward of approximately $30,000 was offered for information that would lead to an arrest and conviction, as police continued to appeal to the public for help.
A significant breakthrough in the decade-long investigation came in April 2024, when a grand jury indicted William Ray Grimes on charges of murder, burglary, and conspiracy to commit burglary. He was already incarcerated in a correctional facility on unrelated convictions. In August 2024, a second man, Richard D. Taft, was also charged with murder and two counts of burglary resulting in bodily injury. Witnesses had reported that Taft was emotional and crying in the months following the murder. The final suspect, William Grimes' brother, Arthur Lee Grimes, was charged with murder and burglary in April 2025.
Court documents revealed that on the night of the murder, the Grimes brothers and Taft attended a party where they spoke of breaking into a house to find money. They later returned to the party with a flat-screen television. During the trial of William Grimes, which began in May 2025, his accomplice Richard Taft testified against him. Taft stated that the three men had gone to Badger's home to steal pills and cash. He testified that after they entered the unlocked house, he saw William Grimes punch the 85-year-old homeowner in the head and stomach. Badger fell to his knees and pleaded with them, saying, 'Don't hurt me take whatever you want.' Taft recounted that Grimes did not believe Badger's promise not to call the police, pulled out a handgun, and shot him in the head from point-blank range. In May 2025, a jury found William Grimes guilty of the murder of Lowell Badger. The trials for Richard Taft and Arthur Grimes are still pending.
