INDIANA — The Indiana Supreme Court is set to review the 120-year prison sentence of William Grimes, who was convicted in the long-unsolved 2012 murder of 85-year-old retired Sullivan County farmer Lowell Badger.
Justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in December to determine whether the Indiana Court of Appeals was correct in vacating a key conviction against Grimes: conspiracy to commit burglary resulting in serious bodily injury.
Sentence & Appeals Court Ruling
Following a high-profile jury trial in May 2025, Grimes was found guilty in Sullivan Superior Court for his role in the fatal home-invasion burglary. In June 2025, a judge handed down a total sentence of 120 years, broken down as:
- Murder: 65 years
- Firearm Enhancement: 5 years
- Conspiracy to Commit Burglary Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury: 50 years
Grimes subsequently appealed the verdict and sentence. The Indiana Court of Appeals later overturned and vacated the 50-year conspiracy conviction, prompting state prosecutors to request a review by the Indiana Supreme Court. The high court’s upcoming hearing on December 3 will determine whether the vacated conviction and its corresponding 50-year sentence will be reinstated or permanently set aside.
Background of the 2012 Murder
The legal proceedings stem from a decade-long cold case that haunted rural Sullivan County.
On the morning of December 8, 2012, 85-year-old Lowell Badger was found shot to death on the floor of his home on West County Road 350 North near Merom. Investigators determined that Badger was killed during a late-night burglary occurring between December 7 and December 8.
Among the items stolen from the victim’s home were a 46-inch Sony Bravia flat-screen television and a heavy gray John D. Brush and Company safe taken from the basement.
For more than eleven years, the investigation remained unsolved despite a $30,000 reward, hundreds of public tips, and extensive searches conducted by dive teams in local ponds and waterways.
The Breakthrough and Trial
The case saw a major breakthrough in April 2024 when an Indiana State Police grand jury investigation led to the indictment of Grimes, who was already incarcerated on unrelated charges. Accomplices were also subsequently charged.
According to court records and trial testimony, witnesses stated that Grimes and others attended a party on the night of December 7, 2012, where they discussed breaking into a local home to look for money. Witnesses later saw the group return to the property with a flat-screen television in the back of a pickup truck.
In May 2025, a Sullivan County jury returned guilty verdicts against Grimes, bringing closure to a cold case that had lingered for over 12 years.
The Indiana Supreme Court’s December decision will mark the latest chapter in the lengthy legal saga as justices weigh the statutory and constitutional merits of the Court of Appeals’ ruling.
