INDIANAPOLIS (TCD) — A 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of murder for allegedly killing his missing father, putting his body in a container, and dumping his remains in a river.
Thirty-five-year-old Brandon Perry was last seen driving his truck, which was pulling a trailer filled with tools on May 26. The detached trailer was found the next day and his vehicle was located on Wednesday, May 29. Indianapolis Police determined Perry went missing under “suspicious circumstances” and asked the public for assistance in finding him.
The Indianapolis Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit initially began investigating on May 29, but Homicide Unit detectives soon took it over. After looking through video surveillance, conducting interviews, and collecting physical evidence, detectives arrested Perry’s son, David Perry, on June 1. The Marion County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged David Perry with murder and dangerous possession of a firearm on June 5.
Police are still searching for Brandon Perry’s body.
According to court documents cited by the Indianapolis Star, Brandon Perry’s trailer was towed from East Thompson Road on the morning of May 27 after a resident called to report it was blocking a left turn lane. It had been abandoned in the street and the trailer’s doors were left open.
A nearby resident reportedly told police he saw a “small and thin build male with jeans and dress shirt take something out of the trailer and put it into the back of the truck and then leave.”
Brandon Perry’s sister reported him missing to police and said it was unusual for him to remove the trailer from his truck. She became worried when he did not show up for work.
The Indianapolis Star reports the sister went to the home of Brandon Perry and David Perry on May 30 and found “what she believed to be a large amount of blood” on the bottom side of a mattress. Police arrived and discovered additional blood evidence, as well as a burn pit in the yard. Brandon Perry’s license and credit card were reportedly found inside the pit and “had suffered extreme thermal damage.”
David Perry allegedly told his aunt that his father was in the White River in a trash can.
WXIN-TV, which also cites court documents, reports he also told her the receptacle was “shut and it wasn’t going to open.”
A gun David Perry’s father had given him was nowhere to be found, nor was an outdoor trash can. On May 26, David Perry reportedly bought several items from Walmart, including a dolly, fan, seat covers, candle, and gun safe.
Investigators went to the banks of the White River and found wheel marks that reportedly match the tread of the trash can.