On January 25, 2005, Katlyn “Katie” Collman, aged 10, was living in Crothersville, Indiana, United States. She led a normal life, following her routine of going to school in the morning and returning in the afternoon. That day seemed no different; she went to school and returned home while her father was at work and her mother was busy with household chores.
Katie noticed they were out of toilet paper at home and told her mother, who said she could go to the nearby market. It was a well-known path and a matter of minutes, so her mother saw no problem in letting her go alone.
It wasn’t supposed to take long, and her mother believed she would be back soon, but that didn’t happen. Initially, Katie’s mother wasn’t too worried, as Katie had many friends and might have been playing in the neighborhood.
Time began to pass quickly, and Katie did not return, leaving her mother desperate. She called a few neighbors to ask if they had seen Katie, but there was no news.
Meanwhile, her father, John Neace, returned home, heard what happened, and decided to call the police. As soon as they hung up, the parents went out into the streets and mobilized the community to search for Katie. The police quickly arrived, and sniffer dogs tracked Katie’s scent to a railroad track, where the trail seemed to end.
Clues Begin to Surface
Two neighbors reported that Katie had come to their house that day, saying she saw their dog dead near the tracks. A composite sketch of a suspected abductor was created, describing a man between 18 and 20 years old, extremely thin, with black hair.
This sketch was based on a witness who claimed to have seen Katie that day inside a pickup truck with a driver matching that description.
On the fifth day of the search, the family received the tragic news that Katie’s body had been found near a creek. She showed signs of sexual abuse and had her hands and feet bound.
An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be drowning. Shortly after the body was discovered, a man named Charles “Chuckie” Hickman was arrested and accused of Katie’s murder.
He lived near the market where Katie had gone to buy paper. A neighbor described Charles as a strange man who often stood in his yard “staring into nothing.” He occasionally threw loud parties that disturbed the neighborhood.
According to Charles, Katie had seen him selling drugs, and he needed to “scare her” to prevent her from telling anyone. He then abducted Katie and took her to his trailer. In the middle of the night, he tied her near the creek, intending only to frighten her, but she accidentally drowned after falling into the water. Charles denied abusing the girl.
Case Closed?
The suspect began contradicting himself during his testimony, and the police suspected he was lying. DNA evidence was found on Katie’s body and on a cigarette butt discarded near her body.
Surprisingly, the DNA did not belong to Charles but to Anthony Stockelman, a local resident and father of three. After his arrest, Anthony pleaded guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The police never explained why Hickman confessed to a crime he didn’t commit.
Prosecutors stated that the former factory worker had abducted, molested, and killed the fourth-grader. She had been missing for five days before her body was found on January 30, 2005, in a creek 15 miles from her home in southern Indiana.
Katie’s Revenge
Stockelman was sentenced to life in prison and transferred to a local facility. What Anthony didn’t know was that Katie’s cousin, Jared Harris, 22 years old, was also in that prison.
In September 2006, Jared entered Anthony’s cell, overpowered him, and tattooed “Katie’s Revenge” on his forehead so that the girl’s death would never be forgotten and the abuser would be marked forever.
The community still believes that Anthony should have been sentenced to death due to the cruelty of his crime.
Harris told prison officers that he attacked Stockelman to avenge Katie. Harris received an additional seven years in prison for violating prison rules.
A medical provider agreed to remove Stockelman’s tattoo at no cost to taxpayers.
