KRUTHERSVILLE, Indiana – The discovery of a child’s body with her hands bound behind her back has shattered the quiet of this rural Indiana community, exposing a predator whose violent rampage police say began at a local dollar store and ended in a cold, murky lake.
For five days in late January 2005, the town of Kruthersville held its breath, hoping that 10-year-old Katie Coleman would return home. She had vanished after her mother asked her to run a simple errand to a nearby Dollar General store, just 250 yards from her front door. The search parties that fanned out across the town’s creeks and farmlands were desperate, but the outcome was the worst imaginable.
On January 30, a state trooper patrolling an area 20 miles north of town spotted something in the spillway of Cypress Lake. It was a body. The victim was dressed in a light blue coat, matching the description of what Katie had been wearing when she was last seen.
As divers pulled her from the water, investigators saw her hands were tied behind her back. The cause of death was drowning, but the autopsy revealed a far more sinister truth: she had been sexually assaulted.
“That kind of violent crime just wasn’t heard of around here,” one investigator recalled. “We clearly had a murder in the community.”
The case drew national attention, with the FBI and Indiana State Police launching an intensive investigation. The initial break came from an eyewitness who saw Katie in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck with a man. A composite sketch was released, showing a slender white male.
But the investigation soon took a bizarre turn when 20-year-old Charles Hickman, a local 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 user, confessed to the murder. He claimed Katie had stumbled upon a methamphetamine operation and that her death was an accident. But the DNA evidence from Katie’s body did not match Hickman.
His confession was a fabrication, based on media reports. He was cleared of all charges.
The real predator remained free. Investigators turned to forensic science, testing dozens of cigarette butts found near the crime scene. One butt, a rare brand called Roger Light 100s, matched the DNA from the semen found on Katie’s body.
Police tracked the cigarettes to a local distributor and then to a white Ford F-150. The license plate returned to Anthony Stockman, a 39-year-old factory worker from Seymour, Indiana.
Stockman had been questioned early in the case but was released after his wife provided an alibi. Now, with DNA evidence linking him to the crime, police moved in. On April 7, 2005, they arrested him without incident at a karate studio where he was with his son.
He maintained his innocence, but the evidence was overwhelming. Red fibers from his mother’s carpet matched fibers found on Katie’s body, placing the assault in a bedroom just 137 feet from where she was last seen.
The community was stunned. “Everybody started keeping a closer eye on their children,” one resident said. “They realized just how fragile the peace is.”
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but Stockman avoided trial by accepting a plea bargain. On April 20, 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 30 years for child molestation. In the packed courtroom, Katie’s father, John Nice, delivered a powerful victim impact statement.
“Katie is ultimately the biggest loser,” he said. “She paid the ultimate price with her life.”
Stockman showed no emotion. As he was led away, his wife shouted, “Why’d you do it, Tony?” He never answered.
The case of Katie Coleman has left a permanent scar on Kruthersville. The town of 1,500 people, once known for its low crime rate and hardworking farmers, now lives with the memory of a child whose life was stolen in the most brutal way. “It’s just stripped away another layer of innocence,” one investigator said.
For the Nice family, the pain is enduring. “She’s still here,” John Nice said. “I mean, she may not be here in body, but she’s here in spirit.
Every moment, she’s right here with us.”
The predator who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a 10-year-old girl is now behind bars, but the fear he unleashed lingers. The quiet streets of Kruthersville will never be the same.
