Mary Ann

This week will mark 46 years that Mary Ann Higginbotham was brutally murdered. We were best friends and grew up and graduated from Plainfield High School together when I go back to that time frame and think of all the different circumstances of what caused her to be taken away at such a young age, it’s difficult for me on a regular basis because I talk to Mrs. Higginbotham every day and we share a memory of Mary Ann together and then we struggle with the unanswered questions. Why are we still waiting for Justice? Mary Ann is the reason that I became an advocate back in 1978. There was no such people referred to as helping families in need the court systems was always overloaded. Police Department had limited funding and it seemed as if so many of the cases had just fallen through the cracks. I never gave up on hoping on that one day my hard work and research will pay off not only on Mary Ann’s case, but all the cases that I have worked on and to continue helping families in need of looking for their own answers why their loved one went missing as well as for the families of loved ones that was taken from them at the hands of evil seeking for Justice. I have been fortunate with the connections of multiple people as well as different organizations, law-enforcement officials, detectives, and prosecutors, as well as journalist that God has lined up for me so many of them that have not only sacrifice their time, but also the dedication that they have given me on Mary Ann’s case. Mrs. Higginbotham raised her children up with strict rules the same as my own parents did in our senior year of high school Mary Ann began missing classes and her focus begin to go in a totally different direction of what she had always been raised with. Her parents received a letter from Plainfield High School’s Guidance Counselor over the concerns of Mary Ann’s absentees. They have stated that if it continued, she was jeopardizing getting her high school diploma. And this time Mary Ann had begun a relationship with the man by the name of Timothy Willoughby no one knows for sure how she ever met him. He lived in Avon, Indiana and had a criminal record which was red flags for Mary Ann she knew her family member would never approve of her relationship with him. I believe somehow Mary Ann got lost with who she really was with the levels that she went to in different relationships before meeting Timothy. I truly have always believed that he had manipulated Mary Ann, into believing he was more important to her than her own family members and siblings. He wanted to be the center of attention in her life. After our graduation, in 1978 Mary Ann left Indiana with Timothy and they moved to California. Mary Ann worked at fast food restaurants and Timothy work for jobs that he got paid under the table for. They moved around on multiple bases around every 4 to 6 weeks with different addresses. Mary Ann did write her family letters on a regular basis. She tried to make it look like Timothy had turned his life around and she would make reference to friends and family that they were watching the Ministry of Oral Roberts on his Christianity television station. Mary Ann did reach out to her mother asking for her savings bond that was set up for her as well as her siblings, with the exception, they would receive the savings bond upon completion of their High School Diploma. After a few months, Mary Ann and Timothy moved back to Indiana. She went to work at Laughter’s Cafeteria located on Clark Creek Road in Plainfield, Indiana. Timothy began associating with James Kellem and Ronnie Tomasick as a employee, their business was centered around stolen vehicles throughout the tri-state, removing parts to restore on other vehicles to able to sell them and make a profit.Timothy had been recently charged with attempts of a stolen vehicle. He was convicted and scheduled to reported every weekend to the Marion County Jail instead of doing a 40 day straight jail time he was set up for every week and he only showed up twice. His next interaction with law-enforcement was when he stole a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix vehicle from the parking lot at Lafayette Square that was located on 38 street in Indianapolis. James and Ronnie had gave Timothy instructions that he was to take parts off of the vehicle and once it was completed to take the vehicle and torture with gas so it could not be traced back to them. This was Timothy‘s downfall being greedy. He removed the bucket, seats, chrome wheels with the belief he could profit off selling them himself without James or Ronnie having knowledge of it. Timothy drug the vehicle down the dirt road from the front of his home and place gas on the vehicle and torched it thinking he was in the clear. A neighbor immediately called 911 and let the operator know that there was a vehicle at the end of the road that had been set on fire as law-enforcement officials arrived the Hendricks County Deputy Marc Sullivan also arrived at the scene. They immediately noticed the drag marks on the dirt road, followed them, drag marks, and they actually went right to the home of Timothy and Mary Ann’s driveway. The following morning on May 22, 1978 there was a search warrant granted by the courts that they could go to the home neither Timothy or Mary Ann was at the residence at that point. as a detective went through with the search warrant, they went up into the attic and was able to find the bucket seats along with the chrome tire rims and other items that did take off of the Pontiac Grand Prix. Immediately the following morning courts issued arrest warrant for Timothy Willoughby. May 22 of 1978 is a day that Mary Ann Higginbotham‘s family members have struggled with for 16 days later Mary Ann vanished. Mrs. Higginbotham tried immediately to file a missing persons report on Mary Ann but she was confronted by law enforcement officials they reiterated to Mrs. Higginbotham that Mary Ann was an adult and she could go freely without having to be telling anyone where she was going. It was devastating to Mrs. Higginbotham because she knew that her daughter would never just walk away. She struggled for a year of unanswered questions. In 1978 Indiana was hit with a blizzard snowstorm that dropped over 26 inches of snow and when the spring season began arriving, the riverbanks was overflowin from the melting of the snow. On June 5 of 1979 that date brought out the truth to where Mary Ann had been kept hidden at when a young teenager boy saw a barrel that landed on the sandbar off of the White Lick Creek located in Mooresville Indiana. The young boys curiosity kicked in and he was really curious to what was actually in the 55 gallon barrel drum the lid been welded shut so he went back home to get a call hammer and was able to get part of the barrel open. That day changed many lives and sadly continues today at 46 years later. When law enforcement officials began arriving on the scene, they collected everything, including the barrel, and took all the evidence to the office of Dr. John Pless in Bloomington, Indiana. The evidence was later logged into Indiana Property Records by the State Police Officer Cranmer with the list of the items that was in the 55 gallon barrel below is a list of evidence that was recovered. 1 plastic bag containing skeletal, lower jaw 1 bag containing associated bones  1 plastic bag containing garment, shoes, and zipper 1 still drum containing body parts 1 plastic bag containing material and sand  1 plastic bag containing soil samples  Sadly, this is what was the remains of Mary Ann Higginbotham Dr. John Pless, was able to determine her death was ruled to be a homicide. She had been shot in the back of her head execution style then she was hog tied and placed in the barrel. The horrific knowledge of all of the bits and pieces of who actually shot Mary Ann and details of what really happened stayed a mystery until May 13 of 1983. When Karen Tucker came forward to give a deposition on her knowledge on the crime, her ex-husband, James Kellam and his co-conspiracy Ronnie Thomasick was responsible for the murder of Mary Ann Higginbotham. At the time she only came forward with her second husband Robert Tucker to try and get custody of her children. Her deposition was very graphic with what she said, and there was no emotional reasoning to how she told her side of the story. As I read her deposition, I was horrified to understand how a mother could be so cold. As she told the details of Mary Ann’s murder and then knowledge that she knew months in advance of what was going to happen. She had chance to save Mary Ann and she refused to do that. she made sure to tell during the deposition that James and Ronnie had been planning it because they didn’t want to deal with Timothy Willoughby anymore, with the fact that he was arrested once again on the stolen cars. There was a chance that James and Ronnie could be arrest as well. She made a comment that if they was going to kill them, they needed to put them in a place that only they knew about. Karen Tucker was never charged with any crime even as she told in her deposition that she washed their bloody clothes, and even cleaned the bloody rings that was taken off of Mary Ann’s fingers that was full of blood and eventually sold some them to a family member. Timothy Willoughby has never been found I entered him into www.namus.gov in December of 2014 because his sister had no knowledge that she had the legal right to have him in the database I was also able to set up for her and her other sister to get DNA swabs done to enter in the database for a possible match to a John Doe. I have spent years working on Mart Ann’s case and have been blessed to work with Loren P. Delp from the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office and along of his Detectives that works from his office. prior to my first meeting, I spent countless hours and days working back to back making binder books that I could put together with a legal documents of Mary Ann’s case along with any transcripts and each section. I had a case summary that would walk them through what was in that section of the binder. When I’ve been going back and forth for years going through all the files i have worried that maybe I overlooked a document or forget something in binder and I felt like I needed to send another email or make that phone call. Prosecutor Loren Delp and his Detectives has always been very respectful and I’ve never turned me away. They give me hope that one day we will know who was responsible for the gunshot that killed Mary Ann Higginbotham. The murder of my best friend gave me the learning experience and knowledge to help families in need with that I know Mary Ann Higginbotham will never be forgotten, and her memory will live on throughout the world.  Indianapolis State Police District Investigative Commander 8620 E. 21 St. Indianapolis Indiana 1-317-899-8577 1-800-582-8440 Case Number 31F5953 Hendricks County Prosecutor / Loren Delp 6 S. Jefferson St. Danville Indiana 46122 1-317-745-9283 Case Summary Written by Donna McIntyre Missing and Not Forgotten Missing & Murdered Searching For The Truth Disappeared and Still Missing! Missing Persons Everywhere Find All Missing Mary's Safe Haven for the missing