Murder Charge Filed In Missing Peru State Student Case
(KLZA / AP)-- A complaint charging 36-year-old, Joshua Keadle, with first degree murder has been filed in the County Court of Nemaha County, Nebraska. Keadle is charged with killing Tyler Thomas on or about December 3, 2010.
Tyler Thomas, who was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance, enrolled as a student at Peru State College in the fall of 2010. Keadle was also a student at Peru State during the first semester of 2010.
Tyler was reported missing in the early morning hours of December 3, 2010 by two students at Peru State after she did not return to her dormitory. Friends searched for her for several hours and they were unable to find her. An extensive search conducted by civilian volunteers, law enforcement, and trained dog handlers in the following days was not successful in finding her. Her body has not been recovered.
Authorities say Keadle, a fellow student, told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and Keadle later told investigators Thomas threatened to report he had raped her.
The state issued a death certificate for Thomas in 2013, even though her body has not been found. The attorney general's office declined to comment on whether Thomas' remains or any new evidence had been found.
The investigation was conducted the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Nemaha County Attorney’s Office and the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.
The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office has been appointed as special prosecutors in the case and will be assisted by the Nemaha County Attorney’s office.
Keadle is currently serving 15 to 20 years in prison for the 2008 rape of a 15-yar-old Fremont girl.
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