Court docs: Behind the plot to shoot Judge Meyer
Prosecutors link attempt to murder Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer to a motorcycle gang member’s trial set to start days later. Five arrested and charged for their suspected roles.
The Sunday afternoon shooting of Judge Steve Meyer and his wife, Kim, at their Lafayette home involved a conspiracy revolving around members of an outlaw motorcycle gang, including one suspect who was facing a jury trial set to start two days later in Meyer’s court, according the documents accompanying charges against five people arrested in the case.
Two days before a man fired two shotgun blasts through the front door of Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer’s Lafayette home, injuring Meyer and his wife, Kim, the same man came to the Meyers’ Lafayette home, knocking late at night and claiming to have a food delivery, court documents unsealed Friday morning reveal.
That night, according to court documents, Steve Meyer never opened the door, instead telling the man that he had the wrong address and that they hadn’t ordered food. The man left their home in the Saw Mill Run subdivision, shown in video footage from doorbell camera carrying a sack from a local restaurant chain off Indiana 26 and a two-liter bottle of soda and walking with a distinct gait.
Investigators say the same man returned to the Meyers’ home at 2:14 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, knocking with a similar pattern they’d heard two nights earlier. This time, according to court documents, the man was wearing a black and gray hooded flannel, a scarf, sunglasses and a white silicone mask, telling the judge through the door that he was looking for a dog. When Steve Meyer said he didn’t have the dog, the man shot twice through the door. Video footage shows a man with a similar gait leaving the scene.
In court documents, investigators say the fake food delivery on Jan. 16 helped point to other clues that led to Raylen Ferguson, a 38-year-old man from Lexington, Kentucky, who they say was the shooter. Ferguson faces charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated battery and others.
Thomas Moss, 43, of Lafayette, faces similar charges unsealed Friday. Moss – identified as a high-ranking member of the Phantom Motorcycle Club – had been scheduled to face a trial on Tuesday, Jan. 20, on 2024 charges of intimation, domestic battery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. He also faced charges of being an habitual offender.
According to court documents, Meyer had rejected an attempt filed earlier in January to postpone that trial, lining up more than 50 jurors to report on Tuesday morning. That trial was postponed after the shooting.
Prosecutors also contend in court documents filed Friday that a witness in Moss’ trial reported to police that she’d been approached at her Pennsylvania home with a $10,000 offer from motorcycle gang members if she would refuse to testify.
Also arrested and charged:
Blake Smith, 32, Dayton, on suspicion of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated battery, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery by means of a deadly weapon, intimidation with a deadly weapon, assisting a criminal by providing a deadly weapon and gang and firearms enhancements. He also faces charges of being an habitual offender.
Amanda Milsap, 45, Lafayette, on suspicion of bribery and obstruction of justice.
Zenada Greer, 61, Lexington, Kentucky, on suspicion of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.
The first hearing on the case had not been set as of Friday morning. A request for a special judge was filed Friday with the Indiana Supreme Court.
As of Friday morning, Moss and Milsap were listed in the roster at Tippecanoe County Jail. Where the other three were being held was not immediately clear.
Steve Meyer is recovering with wounds to his left arm, which Kim Meyer told BiL earlier this week would require a long rehab. Kim Meyer was treated for wounds to her hip and released from a hospital Sunday evening.
How investigators say they pieced the case together
Police said Thursday night that the arrests came during a manhunt that included local and state police agencies, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and police departments in Lexington, Kentucky, and Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Here are details revealed in a probable cause affidavit unsealed Friday:
After Sunday’s shooting, police found items seen on the man who fired the shots in neighbors’ property on Windy Hill Drive, around the corner from the Meyers’ Mill Pond Lane home. That included a black and gray flannel, a scarf, earmuffs, a knitted beanie, black sunglasses, a retractable dog leash and a silicone mask. Police also say they found a short-barreled shotgun with an obliterated model and serial number, which contained a discarded shotgun round in the chamber.
Court documents say an Indiana State Police lab confirmed that DNA found on the discarded mask matched that of Ferguson.
In video footage of police responding to the scene also shows a Hyundai Kona “parked suspiciously behind trees, on the side of the road” on Windy Hill Drive. Police say the car had a stolen license plate, taken Jan. 16 from a business parking lot on Indiana 26.
Police say that, using footage offered by the Meyers about the fake food delivery from 10:40 p.m. Jan. 16, investigators were able to identify the restaurant chain and traced the order to a man leaving a restaurant at 10:24 p.m. that night and leaving in a Hyundai Kona, later identified as being owned by Greer. Investigators say the man seen in surveillance video at the restaurant appeared to be wearing the same clothing and walking with the same gait as the man seen at the Meyers’ door that night.
Investigators say an Indiana State Police lab was able to recover enough of the serial number from the gun to link it to a sale to Blake Smith at a local gun shop on Jan. 5. Police say Smith also that day bought the same brand of ammunition found in chambered in the gun and in spent cartridges at the Meyers’ home. Police say surveillance footage of Smith buying the gun show him in a black and gray flannel hooded sweatshirt, similar to one they say Ferguson was wearing on the Meyers’ porch and shed as he fled the scene.
Investigators said Smith also was a member of the Phantom Motorcycle Club and an associate of Moss, based on previous investigations that included a search of Moss’ home on County Road 350 South that turned up club apparel and patches bearing “1%.” Court documents contend that the “1%” patches designate member of the motorcycle club “as outlaws, or those who are engaged in criminal activity.”
Court documents say that Moss had acknowledged in previous investigations that he was a member of the Phantom Motorcycle Club. Police also say Moss had at one point been linked to a gang known as the Vice Lords.
Court documents say that after the Meyers were shot, the victim listed in Moss’ upcoming trial called Lafayette police that night after seeing comments on social media that the shooter might have worn some sort of mask. She told police that a week earlier, on Jan. 12, someone had come to her home in Pennsylvania “wearing a mask, breathing heavily and with a wobbly walk.” She said the person knocked on the door but that she had not answered. Investigators say video footage from her door show a man who appeared to have the same distinct gait as the person who came to the Meyers’ porch.
The woman told police that she’d been approached by Milsap a couple of weeks earlier, who told her that Moss and the Vice Lords wanted to pay her $10,000 for her to not testify at his trial. The woman, who has a no contact order against Moss, said she didn’t entertain the offer.
Police say the investigation showed that the Hyundai Kona was seen driving in the woman’s Pennsylvania city on Jan. 11, 12 and 15.
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I’m speechless after reading this. Kudos to investigators for swiftly unraveling the investigation. I must say that the criminals seemed to do a lot of dumb stuff. Thank you Dave Bangert for your great reporting of this ongoing story. So thankful that Judge Meyer and his wife are going to be ok.
Solid police work! Thank you to all who worked tirelessly to get the job done!