The body of 26-year-old female Elizabeth Rachelle Stevens was discovered by a passerby on the evening of September 14, 2021, lying on a roadway in rural Owen County, Indiana. Authorities were dispatched to Texas Pike near Manhattan Road around 9:30 p.m., where they found the Spencer resident deceased. An autopsy conducted the following day in Terre Haute confirmed that she had died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Investigators quickly determined that the location where her body was found was a dump site, and the actual homicide had occurred elsewhere.
Law enforcement identified 36-year-old Jay White, also of Spencer, as the primary suspect in the investigation. Detectives learned that Stevens had been traveling as a backseat passenger in a truck with White, who was in the front passenger seat, and another individual who was driving. According to testimony provided later in court, White turned around armed with an AR-15 rifle and fatally shot Stevens. The vehicle was then stopped on Texas Pike, where her body was removed from the backseat and left on the road. Following the crime, White traveled to Arizona to attend a wedding.
On September 20, 2021, authorities apprehended White at the Indianapolis International Airport upon his return to Indiana. During the initial phases of the investigation, White provided conflicting accounts to the police, first claiming that he and the driver had dropped Stevens off alive at a convenience store, and later alleging that she had committed suicide with his rifle. Forensic evidence, including blood and tissue recovered from the truck and White's driveway, contradicted these claims and linked the violence to the interior of the vehicle.
In April 2024, White faced trial in Owen County where a jury found him guilty of murder and obstruction of justice. During the proceedings, prosecutors presented evidence dismantling White's defense that the death was self-inflicted, citing the trajectory of the bullet and witness testimony. On June 7, 2024, the court sentenced White to 60 years in prison. During the sentencing hearing, emotional victim impact statements were delivered by Stevens' family, including her mother and grandmother, who spoke of the lasting grief and the loss suffered by Stevens' young daughter.
