In the summer of 2021, concern grew for the well-being of Daniel Sheets, a 36-year-old male from Fremont, Indiana. He was reported missing on July 23rd after family and friends had not heard from him and calls to his cell phone went unanswered. The last known location for Sheets was a residence in Fremont Township, a place that would soon become the center of a grim investigation after a fire broke out there on July 24th.
As days turned into a week, the search for the missing man intensified, leading sheriff's deputies to the scene of the fire.
On July 28th, the search for Daniel Sheets came to a tragic end. While searching the property, authorities discovered his body in the garage of the burned home, an area that the fire had not touched. An autopsy would later confirm the devastating news that his death was a homicide and that the fire played no part in his demise. During the investigation at the scene, law enforcement found 30-year-old Steven Michael Restemayer of Coldwater, Michigan, hiding in a camper adjacent to the house. Restemayer was initially taken into custody on an unrelated outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a handgun charge and was quickly named a person of interest in Sheets' death.
After a thorough investigation spanning nearly five months, Steven Restemayer was formally charged with the murder of Daniel Sheets in December 2021, while he was still incarcerated on the unrelated charges. The case moved through the legal system, and in March of 2023, Restemayer entered into a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of Voluntary Manslaughter, a Level 2 felony in Indiana. A sentencing hearing was subsequently scheduled for May of that year.
