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Last updated on Monday, October 6, 2014
(VIGO CO.) - Following a four-month long investigation, Vigo County Sheriff’s Detectives have made an arrest in the murder of Michael Pollack.
Police arrested 54-year-old Jay Millen of Terre Haute late Thursday on a charge of murder.
On June 8th, Pollack's body was discovered by a recreational boater floating in the Wabash River.
An autopsy performed by Terre Haute Forensic Pathologist Dr. Roland Kohr determined that Pollack's death was a homicide and that he had died from blunt force trauma.
The condition of Pollack's body made it hard for authorities to identify the body, because he was homeless and had no one reported him missing because he had no close friends or family in the area.
Police used fingerprint technology to identify Polleck and then canvassed the area to trace his last steps using security videos from local businesses which took months of work.
Investigators discovered from security video of the Dollar General at 979 Poplar St. that Pollack and Millen had met a few days prior to Pollock's death. A meeting that Millen first denied, however later admitted to after being confronted with video evidence.
And it was another security video that led detectives to their biggest break in the case. On June 3, security video showed Pollock cross Terre Haute City Hall parking lot into a wooded area located between Ohio Street and Cherry Street river bridges. The area concealed the squatter's campsite of Jay Millen. Millen at first denied that Pollack had ever came to the camp, but later admitted Pollack had been there. The video never showed Pollack leaving the campsite.
Police determined there was an argument followed by a physical altercation which lead to Pollack's death.
Divers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources took to the waters of the Wabash River and found a t-shirt worn that day by Pollack about 100 feet from Millen's tent.
They also believe the murky waters of the Wabash River could be concealing further evidence, and perhaps a murder weapon. They then called in a specialized canine search team from Wisconsin who alerted police to search a two-mile area of the Wabash River where police found a small hand axe, which Mullin admitted was his.
Millen was arrested on charges of murder, abuse of a corpse, two counts of obstruction of justice, false informing, possession of meth and drug paraphernalia.
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