In the late summer of 2015, the quiet community of Shoals, Indiana, was shaken by the violent deaths of two of its residents. Alan Sims, an 82-year-old White male, was found deceased in his garage on August 26, 2015, the victim of a fatal gunshot wound. The grim discovery was made by a Martin County Sheriff's deputy who had gone to Sims' property on Fred Sims Road while searching for another local man, 52-year-old Tom Tharp, who had been reported missing by his family the previous evening.
The investigation into Sims' death quickly led to a second tragic finding. Tharp's body was located in a garden on Sims' property, approximately 30 yards from the garage where Sims was found. He too had succumbed to a single gunshot wound. As law enforcement pieced together the events, their attention turned to 33-year-old Nathan Baker, a resident of Shoals who had previously lived on Sims' property but had been asked to leave. Investigators learned that Baker had been seen on the property multiple times in the days leading up to the murders.
The search for a suspect intensified, and authorities issued an alert for Tharp's missing green 1997 Pontiac Sunfire. The vehicle was spotted by Lawrence County deputies, and a pursuit ensued. The chase ended when the driver, identified as Nathan Baker, crashed the car. Baker was taken into custody, and a shotgun believed to be the murder weapon was recovered from the vehicle.
Nathan Baker was subsequently charged with two counts of murder, two counts of burglary, two counts of theft, and one count of auto theft. His legal proceedings were delayed as his mental competency to stand trial was evaluated. After being found competent, Baker's case went to trial. In June 2018, a jury found him guilty of the murders of both Alan Sims and Tom Tharp. For his crimes, he was sentenced to 133 years in prison.
