James Brian Chadwell Wiki - James Brian Chadwell Bio
James Brian Chadwell is a Lafayette, Indiana, man who is accused of attempted murder after police found an injured, missing 9-year-old girl in his basement on April 19, 2021.
Authorities in nearby Delphi — only 15 miles away — are investigating him as a possible suspect in the notorious unsolved 2017 murders of Delphi teens Abigail Williams and Liberty German. “The information has obviously been shared with us, and our investigators are looking into him,” Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby told the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
Age
He is 42 years old.
Incident Detail
Abby and Libby were murdered after going for a hike near an old bridge in February 2017. They were discovered near the Monon High Bridge Trail, Fox59 reported, which is part of the Delphi Historic Trails. Authorities have released two crime scene sketches of a possible suspect, one in which he looks far younger than the other.
They also released Snapchat video and audio from Libby’s phone of a man walking on a bridge toward the girls before they were killed. Libby had captured audio of his voice saying, “Down the hill.” How exactly they died has not been released by authorities. Throughout the years, other people have been investigated as suspects with nothing coming of it.
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He is a felon with an extensive criminal history. Some have noted his chilling tattoos of girls’ faces.
Charges
The probable cause affidavit says that a missing child was “subsequently located in the residence of James Chadwell on Park Avenue in Lafayette, Indiana.”
On April 19, 2021, officers were dispatched regarding a missing child report near Park Avenue in Lafayette, Indiana. Officers took a report that a female child approximately 10-years-old had left her residence at about 6:30 p.m. and could not be found. While officers were searching the neighborhood, they made contact with James Chadwell, who told officers the girl had been at his residence earlier but had left.
After being unable to locate the child, officers returned to Chadwell’s residence and asked him for permission to check his residence. He allowed them in and the officers checked the basement, which was secured with a chain lock.
In the basement, an officer “found a young girl who was visibly distraught and crying, with her clothing on the floor beside her.” She was identified as the girl and said Chadwell tried to kill her. She was injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Criminal History
The probable cause affidavit says that Chadwell has an extensive criminal history. He was convicted of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a felony, in Miami County.
He was convicted in 2000 in Pennington County, South Dakota of assault-aggravated, a felony, and was convicted of stolen property. Chadwell was convicted in U.S. District Court, South Dakota of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a felony, in 2001. He was convicted in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, of assault-aggravated, a felony, in 2003.
Chadwell was convicted in Cass County, Indiana for receiving stolen property, a felony, on June 9, 2016. He was convicted of OWI with a prior, felony and resisting law enforcement, a misdemeanor, in February 2020 in Miami County. In October 2020, he was convicted of criminal trespass and criminal mischief and was still on probation. He was convicted of criminal trespass and was wanted on warrants.
Court records show that when he was convicted of criminal trespassing in 2020, a charge of public intoxication was dismissed. He received a 90-day jail sentence.
In 2020, when he was convicted of resisting law enforcement, he received a 124-day jail term. A theft charge was dismissed. His probation was revoked. In 2020, he was also convicted of drunk driving with a prior conviction and resisting law enforcement. A charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated – endangering a person was dismissed. He received 365 days in jail. That was a felony case.
Chadwell had an ongoing court case in 2017 for receiving stolen property and probation violation, but no hearings in February 2017. However, there were hearings in that case in the months after that time frame. At that time, his address was given as Kokomo, Indiana.
That’s about 34 miles from Delphi. He was sentenced in June 2016. In August 2016, he allegedly violated probation. In November 2016, he was taken to jail and held without bond, but a few days later, the state and probation officer agreed “to an OR release of the defendant from the CCJ.” A hearing was scheduled for April 2017 in the case.
