A federal grand jury has indicted a Columbus, Ohio, man on charges including kidnapping resulting in death in the case of 17-year-old Fishers resident Hailey Buzbee, prompting Mayor Scott Fadness to praise Fishers police and reaffirm the city’s support for her family.

The nine-count indictment, announced Wednesday, Sept. 23, includes charges that could carry the death penalty, according to WIBC’s reporting on the announcement by U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace II.

“Today’s indictment brings us one step closer to justice for Hailey Buzbee’s death,” Fadness said in a written statement.

“Without the dedication and integrity of the critical work of the Fishers Police Department, today’s indictment would not be possible. We will continue to stand in support of Hailey’s family to see that justice is served.”

The indictment marks a significant development in a case that began with Hailey’s disappearance from her Fishers home in January. Federal prosecutors initially filed exploitation and interstate-travel charges in February. The new charges address her death directly.

According to reporting by The Columbus Dispatch, republished by AOL, the 39-year-old defendant faces charges involving kidnapping resulting in death, an offense resulting in death, obstruction of justice, interstate travel for illicit sexual conduct, enticement of a minor, transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity and sexual exploitation of a minor.

The Dispatch reported that the grand jury also issued special findings making the defendant statutorily eligible for the death penalty. That does not establish that prosecutors have decided to seek a death sentence.

The charges remain allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Hailey was last seen at her home Jan. 5. The defendant has been in custody since his Jan. 31 arrest, according to the Dispatch. Her remains were found Feb. 1 in Wayne National Forest in Perry County, Ohio. eged movements between Indiana and Ohio through cellphone records.

In its Feb. 10 announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said the defendant allegedly met Hailey through online gaming, including Roblox and League of Legends.

Prosecutors alleged that he traveled from Columbus to Indiana overnight Jan. 5–6 to pick her up and take her to Ohio with the intent of producing child sexual abuse material. Authorities said cellphone analysis placed him at a short-term rental in Logan, Ohio, on Jan. 6 and near the North Country Trail trailhead in Wayne National Forest the following morning. Hailey’s remains were later located in that area.

The federal criminal complaint unsealed Feb. 10 charged sexual exploitation of a minor and interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. At the time, Gerace emphasized that those charges did not mark the end of the investigation.

The investigation has involved Fishers police, the FBI’s Indianapolis and Cincinnati offices, Columbus police, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, sheriff’s offices in Hocking and Perry counties, and the U.S. Forest Service. In a Feb. 4 statement, the FBI said the case spanned multiple locations and jurisdictions and asked for patience while investigators gathered and processed evidence.

Before the case drew public attention, Hailey was a Hamilton Southeastern High School student with an interest in journalism. She worked as a server at The Kitchen on Main in Fortville and enjoyed music, books and time with her family, according to her family’s obituary.

Her family held a celebration of her life Feb. 12 at ITOWN Church in Fishers, inviting those attending to wear her favorite color, pink.

“The changes we make together will be rooted in the love Hailey brought into the world during her time with us,” her father wrote in the obituary.

Hamilton East Public Library will hold an all-day celebration and ribbon cutting Tuesday, Oct. 13, to show off newly renovated Youth Services spaces at the Fishers Library.

The renovations were designed to make the children’s area more welcoming, flexible and engaging for families. They are part of a series of projects at both the Fishers and Noblesville libraries.

“Our Youth Services areas are generally some of our most-used spaces, where we see children and families spending a lot of time,” said Library Director Melissa Loiselle. “We wanted these renovations to create an environment where families can feel comfortable staying awhile, whether they’re choosing a book, playing together or simply enjoying time at the library.”

The biggest visible change is in Fishers Youth Services. The updates include expanded children’s program rooms, new treehouse-inspired reading nooks, an updated play area and more child-friendly seating throughout the department.

Celeste Swanson, Fishers Youth Services manager, said families have reacted strongly to the new space.

“The common word we keep hearing from families as they enter the newly renovated youth area in Fishers is ‘Wow!'” Swanson said. “Since the space first opened, families have quickly embraced each new area. Whether it’s creating designs on the light-bright wall or cozying up with a stack of books in one of the new treehouses, patrons are truly enjoying this beautiful and functional space.”

The public is invited to visit throughout the day Oct. 13. Families can enjoy special toys selected for the new department, along with snacks and giveaways.

The official ribbon cutting is set for 4 p.m. Loiselle and Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness are scheduled to speak.

Other improvements at the Fishers Library include new furniture in meeting rooms, study spaces and seating areas, along with new meeting room flooring. At both the Fishers and Noblesville libraries, service desks were updated to improve visibility, accessibility and service flow, and new wayfinding signs were added to help visitors find their way around.

If you go

• What: Fishers Library Youth Services Renovation Celebration and Ribbon Cutting
• When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, all day; ribbon cutting at 4 p.m.
• Where: Hamilton East Public Library – Fishers

For more information, visit hamiltoneastpl.org.

The Indy Fuel announced Tuesday that they have re-signed goaltender Ryan Ouellette to a standard player contract for the 2026-27 ECHL season.

Ouellette, 25, is heading into his third season with the Fishers-based club, which plays home games at the Fishers Event Center.

The Colorado Springs, Colorado, native joined Indy late in the 2024-25 season after his college season ended. He went 1-3-1 in six regular-season games, with a 3.22 goals-against average and an .879 save percentage. He also appeared in one playoff game and did not allow a goal.

He improved last season, going 3-2-0 in five games with a 1.61 goals-against average, a .936 save percentage and one shutout.

The 6-foot goaltender played junior hockey with the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He then played in the NAHL with the Minnesota Wilderness and in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm and the Lincoln Stars.

In college, Ouellette started at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2021-22. He went 17-6-1 there with a 1.66 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage in 24 games. He spent the next two seasons at Niagara University, then played 32 games at Northern Michigan University in 2024-25, posting a 2.95 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

The fifth leg of the roundabout at Olio Road and Southeastern Parkway will close to traffic for good by the end of this week. It’s the next step in the City of Fishers’ $6.7 million project to rebuild one of the region’s busiest intersections.

For years, drivers near the Interstate 69 interchange have called the five-leg roundabout confusing. City officials say the new design will add capacity, ease congestion on nearby roads and make the intersection easier to get through.

What drivers need to know

While work continues, the city says:

• Olio Road is down to one lane in each direction from the roundabout to just south of 136th Street.
• 136th Street west of Olio Road is closed for about three weeks. Traffic is detoured to 134th Street.
• Drivers can still reach IU Health Fishers from I-69 using the bypass lane. Emergency access will stay open for the whole project.

Businesses in the area remain open and reachable in every phase. Drivers should still expect delays and follow the posted detours.

What comes next

The city says Phase 2 is still on schedule to start in mid-October. That phase, running through early November, will bring major closures to northbound, eastbound and southbound traffic at the roundabout, with detours in place.

In Phase 3, from early November to mid-December, the roundabout reopens except for northbound Olio Road on its north side. A new connector road between 136th Street and Southeastern Parkway is also part of the project.

The city expects the work to be done in January 2027.

E&B Paving LLC has the construction contract, with a bid of $6,725,304. Federal dollars cover 80% of the cost and the city pays 20%, through the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s federal funds exchange program.

Current traffic impacts and detour maps are posted at FishersIN.gov/Olio.

With early voting set to begin Oct. 6, the Hamilton Southeastern Schools operating referendum heads toward the Nov. 3 general election with an organized campaign behind it and, so far, no organized opposition.

The measure asks voters to replace the district’s current operating referendum, approved in 2023 with about 70% of the vote, with a new eight-year levy. The ballot question sets a maximum rate of 36 cents per $100 of assessed value and caps annual collections at $47.5 million.

District officials say the first-year rate would be well below that ceiling. Chief Financial Officer Tim Brown has recommended a 2027 rate of 22 cents. That’s down from an earlier estimate of 22.75 cents, after Hamilton County assessed values came in higher than projected. The school board is scheduled to vote on the rate in October. The current rate is just under 20 cents. The district projects the median homeowner would see about a $26 increase on the 2027 tax bill, roughly $2 a month.

Voters will see a much larger figure on the ballot. State-required language says the tax bill on a median $400,000 home “would increase by $700 per year.” That number reflects the full referendum levy at the maximum rate, not the difference from what homeowners already pay.

Why now

The 2023 referendum runs through 2031. District leaders say they are returning to voters early because of Senate Enrolled Act 1, the 2025 state property tax overhaul that phases in larger homestead deductions. Those deductions shrink the assessed value the referendum rate applies to. HSE projects losing about $45.3 million from 2026 through 2031 without a new levy.

The law also limits school referendums to general elections in even-numbered years, making Nov. 3 the district’s only chance before 2028.

What it pays for

According to the ballot question, the money would cover:

• salaries and benefits for about 275 staff members
• the behavioral health contract that places therapists in school buildings
• shared costs of school resource officers
• the director of school safety
• traffic control and after-school event security
• safety supplies and equipment

The superintendent’s case

Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley makes the case for a yes vote in an op-ed offered to local publications. He cites:

• three HSE schools reaching 100% proficiency on this year’s IREAD
• a districtwide third-grade passing rate of 97.3%, a six-year high
• a projected 99% graduation rate
• both high schools ranking in the top 5% nationally in U.S. News and World Report

Keeping those results, he argues, depends on keeping teachers. “There is no substitute for having talented, capable professionals in front of students every day,” Kegley writes, adding that “the educator pool isn’t growing quickly.”

He also highlights the Ascension partnership that places therapists in schools, and the resource and safety officers who cover arrival, dismissal and large events. And he names learning experiences he wants to expand: elementary programs at Conner Prairie, AgriPark and Hub & Spoke, and a precision-machining pathway with Ivy Tech and SMC.

“We should be proud of the excellence HSE students and educators demonstrate today,” Kegley writes. “But pride in what we’ve accomplished can’t become complacency about what’s next.”

The campaign

Advance HSE, the political action committee backing the measure, kicked off its campaign July 8 at Hub & Spoke. Chair Laura Cole has recruited volunteers to work community events, including football games and the Geist Half Marathon. At the kickoff, campaign consultant Robin Winston said the effort would need to reach 25,000 to 26,000 voters. He based that on 30% turnout among roughly 83,000 registered voters in the district.

No local group has formed to oppose the HSE question. Statewide, Americans for Prosperity-Indiana has said it plans to engage in Central Indiana referendum races, and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith has publicly criticized the measures.

HSE is one of five Hamilton County school districts asking voters for more money in November, along with Carmel Clay, Noblesville, Sheridan and Westfield Washington.

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz has fired back at Democratic challenger J.D. Ford, telling him his allegations about her stock trades and campaign spending stem from an “inability to understand financial disclosure statements.”

The Republican congresswoman’s letter, dated Sept. 22, answers the 495-page response Ford’s campaign released a day earlier. Both are seeking Indiana’s 5th District congressional seat, which includes Hamilton County.

“I will give you the benefit of the doubt and attribute your accusations to your inability to understand financial disclosure statements rather than an intentional attempt to misrepresent them or fabricate allegations,” Spartz wrote.

On the stock trades, Spartz says there is only one TD Ameritrade account holding stock, and it already held cash before she took office, as reflected in her candidate disclosure filed April 2, 2020. Candidates are not required to file periodic transaction reports, she wrote, so activity in that account before she became a member did not appear on PTRs.

Ford’s response had noted that Spartz’s earlier transaction filings did not identify the trades as her husband’s. Spartz says that notation is not required, but that after discussions with the House Ethics Committee in August 2021 it was suggested she add the information for clarity, which she has done since. She says she initiated a call with the committee to confirm her report was filed properly and was later advised to mark the IRA as her spouse’s account.

“It should be self-evident that if there is only one account disclosed as owning the stock, and subsequent transactions involving that stock are identified as occurring in Jason Spartz’s Roth IRA, it is the same account,” she wrote.

She enclosed a May 2021 TD Ameritrade statement for an account listed under Jason Matthew Spartz’s Roth IRA. It shows the Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines sales Ford questioned, and a Simon Property Group position purchased Dec. 11, 2020 — before she took office — with a market value of about $1.1 million. Her husband bought that stock with proceeds from sales of smaller farmland parcels, she said, and sold most of it in 2024 to buy a larger parcel at public auction.

Spartz devoted much of the letter to the Moontown Road property in Westfield. She said she and her husband provided the property as campaign headquarters for more than six years “essentially for nothing,” other than reimbursement of direct expenses such as utilities, taxes and insurance. A nominal in-kind amount was reported, she said, and in 2025 her finance team suggested establishing a rent payment based on market-value estimates.

The rate is $2,500 a month for a 2,829-square-foot property on three acres. For comparison, Spartz said her official congressional office about five minutes away pays $2,834 a month for 1,790 square feet with no garage or acreage.

“Your suggestion that someone is enriching themselves by receiving $30,000 in rent payments in total for six years of use by campaign of a prime rental property in Westfield by Grand Park is completely absurd,” she wrote, adding that Federal Election Commission rules require campaigns to account for use of candidate-owned property.

Campaign materials, signs, a sign truck and a parade vehicle have been stored there for years, she said. She is discontinuing use of the property after this election and has listed it for sale.

Spartz also took a personal shot at Ford, noting he “just recently rented a house in Carmel to run for this office,” and arguing that “public service should be a tour of duty, not a career.”

She closed by saying she looks forward to the public debate. The letter was copied to election attorney Jason B. Torchinsky.

Anthony Wren, a Libertarian Party candidate for the Hamilton Southeastern School Board of Trustees in District 1, says school safety is the main reason he is running. He talks about it in the latest LarryInFishers.com podcast.

Wren said news reports about guns in schools, including recent incidents in Noblesville and at North Central High School in Indianapolis, pushed him to run.

“I made a promise,” said Wren, whose daughter graduated from HSE. “If I can do anything to stop this one time, I’ve done my job.”

His main proposal is weapons-detection scanners at every entrance of every HSE school, like the ones used at the Fishers Event Center. He also wants the district to eventually form its own police department instead of relying on school resource officers from the Fishers Police Department. Wren said he has met with the HSE superintendent to discuss his concerns.

Wren praised the education his daughter received at HSE. She played in the marching band and served as drum major in her senior year.

He is skeptical about the operating referendum on this fall’s ballot. It would fund teacher salaries, class sizes and school safety. Wren said he is torn on the question and wants an audit of district finances before more money is requested. He also questioned whether HSE applies for grants. Lannan noted that the district regularly applies for grants, and that most Hamilton County districts are pursuing referendums after state changes to property tax law.

Other positions Wren discussed:

• Cell phones: Students would have to keep phones in their lockers, and school Wi-Fi would block social media. He supports the medical and disability exemptions in state law, as long as they are not abused.
• Academics: He wants more focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, including handwriting and cursive.
• School meals: Wren raised concerns about folic acid in enriched flour, citing YouTube personality Gary Brecka. Lannan asked him about Brecka’s qualifications. Federal health agencies have required folic acid in enriched grain products since 1998 to help prevent neural tube birth defects.
• Discipline: Wren said teachers he has spoken with feel they have lost control of their classrooms. He acknowledged that the examples he cited came from outside HSE.

Wren said he left the Republican Party because he was frustrated with both major parties. He does not agree with every Libertarian position, including on the death penalty and abortion.

In college, Wren served as vice president and then president of student government. He said that experience taught him how to organize and get things done.

“We may disagree on how to get there,” Wren said, “but I will work to secure our schools.”

The LarryInFishers.com podcast is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

Listen to the full conversation at this link or the link below.

Eunice Desjardins served in the Women’s Army Corps, raised a family and, this month, marked a milestone few people reach. She turned 105.

On Monday night, the Fishers City Council made sure she did not celebrate quietly.

Desjardins was recognized at the council’s meeting, where she received honors from the Indiana House of Representatives and the Indiana Senate, along with a commendation from Gov. Mike Braun.

Her military service places her among a generation of women who changed the American armed forces. Congress created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps on May 15, 1942, and the unit was granted full military status as the Women’s Army Corps the following year. More than 150,000 women served in the WAC during World War II — the first women other than nurses to serve in Army ranks. They worked as switchboard operators, stenographers, drivers and mechanics, and a small number were assigned to the Manhattan Project. The corps was dissolved in 1978, when women were folded into the regular Army.

Two officers honored for decades on the job

The council also recognized two members of the Fishers Police Department for long service.

Officer Todd Crowder was honored for 35 years in uniform. When he began his career, Fishers was a town of about 7,500 people, according to the 1990 census — smaller than many of the subdivisions that now fill its map.

Assistant Chief Mike Taylor was recognized for 20 years of service. He joined a department policing a community that was still a town; Fishers did not become a city with an elected mayor until Jan. 1, 2015. The 2020 census counted 98,977 residents.

Mayor Scott Fadness had a one-word review of his own spending plan when he stood before the Fishers City Council Monday night: boring.

He meant it as a compliment. Fadness used the same word earlier in the day in a podcast interview, and he repeated it for the council — the 2027 budget contains no crises, no surprises and no dramatic course corrections, and that is precisely the point.

The $224 million proposal is about 10% larger than the $203.6 million budget the council approved for 2026, but much of that growth sits in one place: Public Works, up 21%, with capital spending for wastewater infrastructure more than doubling following the city’s acquisition of HSE Utilities. Strip that out and the plan looks a great deal like last year’s.

For city hall employees, the headline is compensation. The budget funds a 3% across-the-board pay raise and raises the city’s matching contribution to workers’ 457 retirement plans by $1,000, bringing the annual city match to $4,000 per employee.

Fadness again set holding the municipal property tax rate steady as his central goal — maximizing value for the rate rather than raising it. That is a harder trick in 2027 than it sounds. Certified assessed value growth for the city comes in at just 0.4%, down from 2.7% a year ago, as new state homeowner and rental deductions shrink taxable value even while property values hold up. The state’s maximum levy growth quotient is 6%, and annexation could push the city’s available levy up roughly 9%, but officials have not said how much of that room they intend to use. Local income tax has taken up some slack — Fishers is projected to receive about $47.3 million in certified-share LIT revenue in 2027, on top of a one-time $10 million distribution this year that padded reserves.

Public safety remains the largest area of growth outside utilities. The police budget rises about 10%, adding detective capacity along with digital forensics work and support for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The fire department’s operating budget is essentially flat, but recruits hired in earlier budget cycles move onto operational staff, and the department plans a fourth medic unit, four additional paramedics and a trauma blood program.

The plan also continues the neighborhood vibrancy and teacher innovation grant programs, funds the Fishers Community Center expansion — including a rooftop studio due to open late next spring, at a facility where membership has grown 30% to 4,880 units — and keeps money flowing to roads and sidewalks, with Cumberland Road widening and 16 to 18 miles of annual resurfacing on the engineering list.

A public hearing was held Monday. The council is scheduled to adopt the budget Oct. 12.

Democratic congressional candidate J.D. Ford says he will not pull the financial allegations from his campaign website, and he is accepting U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz’s challenge to debate.

Ford’s response, dated Sept. 21, answers a Sept. 18 letter in which Spartz demanded he remove or correct statements about her finances and congressional record. The two are competing for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District seat, which includes Hamilton County.

“I have read your letter and it raises more questions than answers,” Ford wrote to Spartz. “As you were a CPA, we have to assume your disclosures are correct. If your disclosures are wrong, it does not change the fact that you benefitted from stock trading while in Congress.”

He added: “I accept your invitation to finally debate. I will serve Hoosiers — not myself — in Congress.”

Spartz had said in her letter that she has never personally owned or traded individual stocks, and that transactions cited by Ford involved her husband Jason’s retirement account. Her campaign called the disputed claims “objectively verifiable facts” rather than differences of political opinion.

Ford attached a 495-page response with 15 exhibits drawn from House disclosure filings, Federal Election Commission reports and Hamilton County property records.

The response argues that Spartz filed multiple periodic transaction reports that do not identify her husband as the owner, even though the forms include a place to list owners other than the member of Congress. It cites four filings — IDs 20018952, 20018955, 20019527 and 20018254.

On the airline stocks Spartz described as “a few minor transactions,” Ford’s response says sales of Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines stock fell in disclosure ranges totaling between $450,002 and $1 million. It notes Indiana’s median household income of $71,957 and argues most Hoosiers would not view those figures as minor. The response also says no disclosure shows how or when the airline stocks were acquired — the first indication of ownership came when the sales were reported.

Ford’s team further says that when Spartz was a candidate, her disclosure listed no individual stock holdings, but her first report as a member, for filing year 2020, showed stock purchases between $1 million and $5 million, held in a Roth IRA.

Addressing Spartz’s July 22 vote for H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act, the response calls the vote “nothing but a distraction,” saying the bill applies the same scrutiny to spouses’ trades and that Spartz is grandfathered in and may still sell stocks she currently owns.

The response raises a new allegation involving a Westfield investment property on Moontown Road that the Spartz family has owned since 2015. It says FEC filings show the campaign paid $30,000 in annual rent to Jason Spartz on Nov. 20, 2025, and made two payments to the Hamilton County treasurer for property taxes — $2,791.01 in November 2025 and $3,115.08 in April 2026 — that match tax amounts due on the parcel. It also points to campaign payments for utilities that it says may relate to the property.

“Based on the information contained in her Financial Disclosures, campaign funds have been used by Spartz to support her investment property,” the response states.

Spartz has not responded publicly to Ford’s letter. She has denied using her office for personal gain, saying her financial position has not materially changed because of her congressional service. In a separate Sept. 18 letter, she asked media organizations to verify the disputed allegations against public records before running paid communications containing them.

No debate date has been announced.