New court docs: Man admits he shot Judge Meyer, lays out plot, implicates others

In charging documents after a sixth suspect was arrested, investigators say Raylen Ferguson admitted he was the shooter on Jan. 18, then told how the plan came together to stop another suspect’s trial

Feb 05, 2026

Raylen Ferguson, during his arrest. (Image from video, via LPD)

In new court documents unsealed this week, investigators say the man accused of firing a short-barrel shotgun through the front door of Judge Steve Meyer’s Lafayette home Jan. 18 admitted his role in a plot that initially included breaking into the house, having his wife, Kim, zip-tie the judge before killing him and leaving a note – all in an attempt to stop a jury trial set to start two days later.

In interviews after five of six people were arrested and charged in the attempted murder, investigators say Raylen Ferguson, 38, of Lexington, Kentucky, described Thomas Moss, 43, of Lafayette, as the leader of a plot that first aimed to stifle – and potentially kill – a witness in a trial Moss faced that week in Meyer’s Tippecanoe County Superior Court 2, according to an updated probable cause affidavit unsealed late Wednesday.

Court documents say Ferguson was reluctant in a Jan. 23 interview, the day after he was arrested, to give up information about the planning or execution of the scheme. At first, investigators say, Ferguson “admitted he was doing this for ‘bro’ so ‘bro’ could spend more time with his son and that ‘bro’ felt he would die in prison with his current pending case.”

But days later, new charging documents say, police say Ferguson laid out more details, telling investigators that he’d tried to back out, asking Moss – a fellow “outlaw” member of the Phantom Motorcycle Club – whether someone else could do it instead.

But investigators say Ferguson told them he faced “a lot of pressure” and that he owed at least $22,000 to Moss and Nevaeh Bell – Moss’ girlfriend and part of Moss’ Journeymen Trucking Company LLC, a business – a debt that he’d been trying to work off by driving the company’s truck.

From the court documents, filed along with new charges after Bell was arrested Wednesday as the sixth participant in the alleged plot: “Ferguson admitted Moss promised Ferguson his debt would be absolved, and Ferguson would have a new rank in the gang if he carried out this plan.”

According to the original probable cause affidavit unsealed Jan. 23 with the charges, Ferguson was accused of going in disguise to Steve and Kim Meyers’ front door on the afternoon of Jan. 18. Investigators say he knocked, telling Steve Meyer that he was looking for a lost dog before firing a shotgun through the closed front door, hitting the judge in the arm and Kim Meyer in the hip. Both are recovering from their injuries.

Investigators say the plot revolved around Moss, who had been scheduled to face a trial on 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 that Tuesday morning. That trial was postponed after the shooting. In court documents filed in the attempted murder case, investigators say the victim in Moss’ scheduled trial had been approached weeks earlier and offered $10,000 to not show up and testify.

Six people have been charged, so far:

Ferguson was charged with 10 felony counts, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. After the Jan. 18 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’ 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. He’s being held on $4 million in cash and $2 million surety bonds, along with conditions that he could have no communication with anyone beyond his attorney while awaiting trial.
Moss faces nine felony counts, including those for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, battery and intimidation. He is being held on $3 million cash and $2 million surety bond, with the same conditions as Ferguson, keeping them isolated while in jail.
Thomas Moss is led into Cass County Superior Court 2 Jan. 28. (Photo via media pool feed)

Bell, 23, of Lafayette, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 12 charges, including attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated battery and intimidation. An initial hearing date in her case had not been posted in online court records as of Thursday morning.
Nevaeh Bell (Photo via LPD)
Blake Smith, 32, of Dayton, was charged with nine counts, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Investigators say an Indiana State Police lab was able to recover enough of the serial number from a gun found in the Meyers’ neighborhood to link it to a sale to Smith at a local gun shop on Jan. 5. Police say Smith also that day bought the same brand of ammunition found 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. Court records, included by investigators in charging documents, show that Smith had a divorce proceeding in Meyer’s court in 2025, in which he contested his former wife’s attempt to move with their children to Idaho. Smith lost and his parenting time was modified in that decision. He is being held on $3 million cash and $2 million surety bond, with the same conditions as Ferguson, keeping them isolated while in jail.
Blake Smith (Photo via LPD)
Amanda Milsap, 45, of Lafayette, is being held with a $500,000 cash and $1 million surety bonds on felony charges of bribery and obstruction of justice. Milsap, a mental health therapist who was once married to Moss, is accused of relaying the offer of $10,000 to the victim in Moss’ trial if they wouldn’t testify.
Zenada Greer, 61, of Lexington, Kentucky, was charged with two felony counts of assisting a criminal in an attempted murder and obstruction of justice. Charges tie a car registered to Greer and another one she rented to being at the scene of the shooting and in various other locations in Lafayette before and after the crime. Greer was ordered to be held on $1 million cash and $1 million surety bonds.

Amanda Milsap and Zenada Greer (Photos via LPD and Tippecanoe County Jail)

During an initial hearing last week, Moss told Cass County Superior 2 Judge Lisa Swaim – assigned to preside over the cases – that he planned to represent himself and that he planned to file a motion to dismiss. He told Swaim: “As far as the probable cause affidavit … none of the things that were alleged that happened directly actually tied me to any of these incidents that occurred here, as far as anything pertaining to collusion, me knowing about what was going on and the intentions of anybody after that.”

New details in the revised charging documents dispute that.

Among the details revealed, according to the new charging documents:

Police say data from Ferguson’s phone showed calls and WhatsApp communications with Moss’ phone number between Jan. 1 and Jan. 10, and again between Jan. 16 and Jan. 22.

Ferguson said Moss and Bell gave him detailed information about the victim scheduled to testify in Moss’ trial. Ferguson said he drove to Pennsylvania to find the witness “so she could be ‘stopped.’” Ferguson said first went to Smith’s house, where he picked up a gun, mask and addresses. Ferguson told investigators that Bell gave him money for the trip and photographs of the witness and her husband. He said Moss and Bell laid out a plan where he’d enter the witness’ home via a back door and shoot her and her significant other, “if necessary.” Ferguson said he was given handwritten notes, “one for Pennsylvania, and one for Lafayette, which would hopefully confuse investigators as to the motive.”

“When Ferguson was unsuccessful in Pennsylvania, he was told the next step was to go after the Judge,” the court documents said.

Investigators say Ferguson told them that he, Smith, Moss and Bell discussed the in Moss’ basement. He said Moss drove him to Smith’s home – described in court documents as “the Clubhouse for the Phantom Motorcycle Club in Lafayette” – to get a disguise.

“The initial plan was for Ferguson to break into Judge Meyer’s house, hold Judge Meyer and Kimberly at gunpoint, have Kimberly zip-tie Judge Meyer, leave a note, shoot Judge Meyer, go out the backdoor, and leave the residence,” according to court documents.

Investigators say Ferguson told them that Bell used her phone, projected onto a TV, to map the area around the Meyers’ home, with an address Bell used via an app she used in her work.

Investigators say Ferguson told him he wasn’t sure about the address and that Bell drove to the house on the morning of Jan. 16 – the day Ferguson returned with the fake fast food order to the Meyers’ home. Investigators say mapping data in Bell’s phone shows she’d been at the judge’s address. Investigators say Ferguson told them Bell gave him the money to buy the fast food he took to the Meyers’ home on Jan. 16. (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, later identified as Ferguson, left their home in the Saw Mill Run subdivision, shown in video footage from doorbell camera carrying a bag from a local restaurant chain off Indiana 26 and a two-liter bottle of soda and walking with a distinct gait.)

Investigators say Ferguson told them that “he went to Smith’s residence after the shooting and Ferguson stripped his clothes and took a shower. Ferguson advised the plan which was formulated included Smith burning Ferguson’s clothes after the shooting.” Ferguson told investigators that he didn’t see Smith burn the clothes but believed Smith did it.