1 Arrested In 2016 Homicide

CELINA - A 30-year-old woman was arrested at her residence in Marion, Indiana, on Wednesday in connection with the homicide of 21-year-old Ryan R. Zimmerman of Columbus, whose remains were found on Jan. 3, 2016, east of U.S. 127 at the mouth of Coldwater Creek.

Sarah Buzzard allegedly confessed to strangulating Zimmerman and dismembering his body, Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said at a Thursday morning news conference.

A second suspect, Buzzard's wife, Naria Jenna Whitaker, 33, also of Marion, Indiana, upon learning she too would be arrested on Wednesday for her alleged role in the crime, pulled a handgun from her purse and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Grey said.

The killing of Zimmerman allegedly occurred in Columbus, where the young man had moved to from Corbin, Kentucky, to live with friends he met online, Grey said.

"I think we have a motive but I think that's something we kind of need to hold for the court process," Grey said.
  Buzzard is being held at the Mercer County jail and was scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Celina Municipal Court.

"Sarah and Jenna had lived in Columbus and then moved. Their home place was in Marion. They were actually living with Sarah's mother in Marion Indiana," Grey said.

Buzzard was charged with four counts of tampering with evidence, felonies of the third degree; one count of grand theft auto, a fourth degree felony; and two counts of abuse of a corpse, a fifth degree felony and a second degree misdemeanor.

"The prosecutor's office will have to review it and determine what other charges are appropriate," Grey said.

Whitaker would have faced the same charges, according to Grey.

"We were in the process when this happened, of filing the exact same charges that Sarah had," he noted.  

The case likely will be prosecuted in Mercer County, Grey said.

"Jurisdiction can be where the crime was committed or where the body was located," Grey said. "Our prosecutor's office has talked with Franklin County and I think right now they're thinking that the case should be prosecuted here."

A multi-agency operation unfolded in three states on Wednesday, as law enforcers and Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents sought to simultaneously conduct interviews with multiple suspects and witnesses to prevent them from communicating with one another. Mercer County detectives were dispatched to Columbus; Marion, Indiana; and Oak Island, North Carolina, Grey said.

County detectives, armed with an arrest warrant for Buzzard and assisted by Marion police officers and BCI agents, immediately apprehended the suspect at her residence, according to Grey.

She was then brought to the Marion Police Department where she was interviewed and allegedly confessed to strangling Zimmerman and dismembering his body. She waived extradition and is in the county jail, Grey said.

After interviews were completed, it was determined that Buzzard's wife, Whitaker, had participated with Buzzard in the crimes, Grey said. The couple lived together at their home in Marion.

As county detectives sought an arrest warrant for Whitaker, Marion police officers, other county detectives and BCI agents attempted to arrest Whitaker.

"When she was told she was going to be arrested, she pulled a handgun out of her purse and she died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Grey said. "Nobody else fired a round."

No officers were injured, Grey said. Whitaker's suicide is under investigation by the Marion Police Department, Grey said.

County detectives also executed a search warrant on the residence after Buzzard's arrest and gathered additional evidence on Wednesday, he said.

"The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, while they've been instrumental in the case and I think are really familiar with the case, we'll get everything wrapped up for them from the sheriff's office end and we will turn that over for them to review and determine if additional charges will be filed," Grey said.  

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, county detectives in Columbus interviewed Buzzard's ex-husband and a woman with whom he now lives. They were assisted by Columbus police officers, according to Grey.

And county detectives in Oak Island, North Carolina, on Wednesday, interviewed a witness who reportedly was with Buzzard's ex-husband the weekend that the crime occurred.

"The person in Oak Island was with the husband the weekend that this happened so we were able to connect that he wasn't there and he didn't participate in it," Grey said.

Grey said it was amazing to see law enforcement agencies and detectives coordinate and carry out the three-state operation on Wednesday.