Missing Indiana girl found in basement; arrested suspect investigated in Delphi murders

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (TCD) --

An Indiana man arrested on charges of kidnapping, beating and sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl is also being investigated in an unsolved double-murder case in Delphi, Indiana.

James Brian Chadwell was arrested in Lafayette on April 20, 2021.

WXIN-TV reports according to court documents, police knocked on Chadwell’s door on April 19 and found a 9-year-old girl locked in the basement.

Police said Chadwell allegedly lured the girl into the residence by inviting her to pet his dogs, WXIN reports. The girl told police Chadwell attacked her inside the house, strangled her to the point of passing out, and she said she woke up with most of her clothing gone.

The girl was reported missing by her parents at about 7 p.m. the same day. Officers visited the house earlier in the evening, according to WXIN, during a search for the girl. Chadwell reportedly told officers the girl had been there earlier but left. Officers later returned to the house and asked for permission to look in the house.

The girl was found crying in a room in the basement locked with a chain lock. She was hospitalized, where she said Chadwell sexually assaulted her.

In addition to bruises, scratches and other markings on her body, she had what appeared to be dog bites on her legs, according to investigators.

Chadwell was booked in the Tippecanoe County jail on charges of attempted murder; child molestation; attempted child molestation; kidnapping; criminal confinement; battery and strangulation.

Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said investigators were aware of Chadwell in the Delphi investigation. He did not offer further details.

“The information [regarding Mr. Chadwell] has been shared with us and our investigators are looking into him,” Leazenby said in a statement.

TRUE CRIME DAILY: Delphi, Indiana double-murder case coverage - TCD

Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, were found murdered in a wooded area off a hiking trail in Delphi in February 2017. Their bodies were found a day after they were reported missing. Their causes of death were not released.

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