On January 25, 2005, a young girl named Katie Collman left her home in Crothersville, Indiana to buy some toilet paper for her mother. It was a walk she had taken literally hundreds of times before according to her father, John Neace. However, this time would be different. Katie did not return, and was found 5 days later floating in a creek leading from Cypress Lake some 17 miles north of where she was last seen.
The local community rallied in support of Katie and her family. They distributed flyers, printed t-shirts with her picture, and lended their time to searching for her on foot or with ATV's. They held a candlelight vigil, praying for her safe return. And when a local man confessed to killing Collman because she had witnessed drug activity, citizens vowed to rid their town of the meth production.
After Chuckie Hickman's confession, the public finally spoke out about the drug activity that had been going on in the town of 1500 residents. A march against drug activity was held, and there was talk of tearing down the Penn Villa apartment complex where she was last seen in order to build a playground in her honor. Police finally began to arrest residents who earlier had been producing meth, including one man who blew up his home while manufacturing meth only one month prior to Katie's death.
Katie's uncle, Jerry Neace called local authorities in late December 2004 about suspicious activity at the Penn Villa. At that time, Neace claimed the smell was so bad that it made his throat burn. However, when authorities arrived, they made no arrests.
On the evening of Katie's disappearance, police went to a home on County Road 800 South, in what is known as the Bethany neighborhood. This is some distance from town, outside of the city limits of Crothersville. The police claim that they went to this residence in the course of their search for Katie. Why Katie might have been at that particular residence that evening is unclear. It would have been unlikely that she wandered there on her own. While conducting a search for the missing girl, police found an operable meth lab, but did not make any arrests. After Hickman's confession, these men turned themselves in to police authority.
In September 2005, 15 felons were released in Jackson County. Among them were many who were arrested on drug charges, namely meth, after Katie's death and disappearance. What the disposition of these cases has been is uncertain at this time.
It seems that Hickman gave a credible statement to police which caused the public to insist that these drug dealers be arrested and their activities halted. Perhaps this caused a conflict of interest for someone in a position of authority, who realized that their boys were going to be put out of business. It then became necessary to change the story, claiming that a random man happened upon Collman, molested her, then killed her to keep her quiet. Perhaps in order to make that story convincable, they needed to allege they had DNA evidence.
Residents of Crothersville still complain about the meth houses in their town. Police still have excuses as to why these things are still occuring.
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