On a Sunday morning in Salem, Indiana, former Washington County Sheriff Clyde E. Nichols Jr., a 47-year-old male, was leaving the Salem United Methodist Church with his wife and their two teenage daughters. The date was April 1, 1984. As the family approached their car parked on East Market Street, a man stepped forward and fired an automatic revolver, striking Nichols once in the abdomen and twice in the neck. The serene morning shattered into a scene of violence and tragedy.
Nichols was rushed to Washington County Memorial Hospital, but his wounds proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The shooter, identified as 51-year-old Arthur C. Whitt, was apprehended at the scene by an Indiana State Police sergeant who had also been attending the church service and heard the gunshots. Whitt held a long-standing grudge against law enforcement and the courts, blaming them for the loss of his property in a tax sale years earlier. His animosity was particularly directed at Nichols, with whom he had a history of encounters related to both criminal matters and domestic issues. This deep-seated resentment culminated in the fatal ambush outside the church.
Arthur C. Whitt was charged with murder. During his trial, which was moved to Bartholomew County, his defense entered a plea of insanity. Three psychiatrists testified that Whitt suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. The jury ultimately found him guilty of murder but also mentally ill. While the prosecution sought the death penalty, the jury recommended against it. The judge sentenced Whitt to the maximum term of 60 years in prison. He died in prison in 1994, having served a portion of his sentence for the murder of the well-respected former sheriff. Clyde Nichols had a distinguished career in law enforcement, serving two terms as sheriff and later as a captain, leaving behind a legacy of service to his community. He was survived by his wife, a son, two daughters, his mother, a brother, and four sisters.
