The Murder of Hailey Buzbee: The Federal Case

Summary

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The Murder Sheet

Episode: "The Murder of Hailey Buzbee: The Federal Case"

Date: February 16, 2026
Hosts: Áine Cain (journalist) & Kevin Greenlee (attorney)
Main Theme:
An in-depth examination of the murder of 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee, the federal charges against her accused killer Tyler Nike Thomas, and the broader implications of online child exploitation. The episode combines reportorial breakdown of charging documents, legal analysis, and a sobering look at the dangers young people face online.

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Episode Overview

This episode covers the heartbreaking case of Hailey Buzbee’s disappearance, exploitation, and murder. Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee analyze the federal criminal complaint against Tyler Nike Thomas, review how law enforcement pieced together the case, and discuss the larger issue of internet-facilitated child exploitation. The episode is intensely detailed, sometimes graphic, and underlines the importance of discussing uncomfortable realities to inform and protect the public, particularly parents.

Content Warning: Graphic discussion of child sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background and Timeline of Hailey’s Disappearance

• Hailey disappeared from her Fortville, Indiana home during the night of January 5–6, 2026, leaving behind a note claiming she ran away ([01:47]).
• Police initially classified her as a runaway, then later as an endangered missing juvenile.
• Law enforcement and her parents immediately began searching for leads, including tracking her digital activity.

“On the morning of January 6, 2026, the parents of minor victim awoke to find that minor victim was missing ... they found a note ... asking that no one search for her.” —Kevin Greenlee [10:47]

2. Emergence of Tyler Nike Thomas as Suspect

• Police traced a suspicious black Acura SUV near Hailey’s home and linked it to Thomas, who lived in Columbus, Ohio ([21:18]).
• Thomas’ digital and travel patterns connected him to Hailey’s disappearance, as did communication records from Discord and other apps.

“Fisher’s PD tracked the vehicle’s pattern of life ... and noticed it traveling eastbound away from Fishers, Indiana. ... Jane Doe confirmed that Thomas may have been driving the vehicle at that time.” —Kevin Greenlee [21:18]

3. Interstate Movement & Federal Jurisdiction

• Thomas transported Hailey from Indiana to Ohio—the interstate nature of the crime justified federal charges ([04:27]).
• Federal charges include sexual exploitation of a minor and travel in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct ([04:52]).

“For one thing, if a crime involves activity in two different states, then ... you file it in federal court.” —Kevin Greenlee [04:27]

4. Law Enforcement Investigation Tactics

• Digital Forensics: Emergency disclosures requests to Apple and cell carrier analyses allowed police to track devices and communication ([16:03]).
• Surveillance Footage: Local doorbell cameras captured a black minivan's movements, triangulating possible timelines ([15:04]).
• Vehicle & Financial Records: Flock camera technology traced the suspect’s vehicle across state lines; bank records revealed prior visits and purchases connecting Thomas with Hailey ([34:16]).

“This vehicle showed up on some footage from another neighbor as well ... triangulating this vehicle’s movements.” —Anya Cain [15:04]

5. Suspect Interrogation and Contradictions

• Thomas admitted to picking up Hailey but claimed he dropped her off at her request in Ohio; his story contradicts digital evidence ([28:33], [29:25]).
• He confessed to meeting Hailey online and communicating via Discord and other secure apps.
• Notably, Thomas used "Session," an encrypted messaging app unfamiliar even to the hosts, highlighting how predators shift platforms rapidly ([28:54]).

“Have you ever heard of this Session app before?” —Anya Cain [28:54]

6. Digital Evidence and Attempted Cover-up

• Forensic phone extraction uncovered deleted or hidden communications, including Snapchat messages and cached images connecting Thomas to Hailey ([35:01], [36:49]).
• Thomas attempted to scrub devices and use secure folders and app deletion to hide activity.

“Salter was able to figure out that Snapchat was on Thomas's phone, but at some point was uninstalled before the forensic extraction. So, again, attempts to delete evidence.” —Anya Cain [37:20]

7. Graphic Evidence and Pattern of Predatory Behavior

• Digital evidence included CSAM (child sexual abuse material) involving both Hailey and unrelated minors, as well as disturbing conversations revealing violent sexual fantasies directed toward minors ([40:21]).

“He clearly has fantasies about committing violent acts on someone underage.” —Kevin Greenlee [41:39]

• Salter, the FBI agent, found images, messages, and photographs confirming prior in-person interactions and sexual abuse ([35:01]-[45:06]).
• The severity and extent of evidence prompted a criminal complaint and subsequent arrest ([45:07]).

8. Recovery of Hailey’s Remains

• Thomas, in the company of law enforcement and his lawyer, led authorities to Hailey’s burial site at the North Country Trail trailhead in Wayne National Forest ([45:07]).
• Her dismembered body was recovered; DNA matched her identity ([46:56]).

“Upon arrival, Thomas, his attorney and the transporting officers ... met with personnel ... the parties all walked to a location ... where Thomas pointed out that Haley’s body was buried.” —Anya Cain [45:07]

9. Legal Proceedings and Current Status

• As of the episode recording, Thomas faces federal charges related to child sexual exploitation and interstate travel for illicit conduct, but not yet for homicide ([05:28]).
• Hosts expect murder charges to follow based on evidence ([46:56]).

“If he knows where the body is buried, he clearly has guilty knowledge ... I would expect there ultimately to be some sort of charges filed in connection with her death against him.” —Kevin Greenlee [46:56]

10. Impact on the Community & Advocacy

• Community mourning is evident, with local fundraisers and visible displays of solidarity ([47:19]).
• Hosts emphasize the ongoing threat of online predators and advocate public awareness, digital safety, and open dialogue.

“This never should have happened to this young girl. And my heart goes out to her family. ... It just makes me so sad and angry for her.” —Anya Cain [47:19]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On the investigative process:

  “Justice is on its own timeline ... it could take a while to look at autopsy and rule things out or rule things in and perform things in the proper way.” —Anya Cain [06:00]

• On the flood of secure apps for predators:

  “The minute you turn around, there’s some new secure app that predators are using to speak to children online. I had never heard of Sessions, so that just hit me of like, if we’re doing that ...that’s what parents are up against.” —Anya Cain [28:54]

• On the disturbing nature of found evidence:

  “They talk about a blue diamond pattern blanket that matches a blanket found ... they talk about her being fully nude. ... it's just the sexual abuse of a 17 year old girl.” —Anya Cain [43:26]

• On confronting hard truths:

  “I think it’s important to talk about, and I just want to be clear ... our intentions there are to inform the public about just how bad it is out there.” —Anya Cain [06:00]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:47] — Introduction to the case, background on Hailey’s disappearance
• [04:27] — Federal versus state charges explained
• [10:47] — Timeline of Hailey’s last known movements
• [15:04-16:03] — Neighborhood surveillance and digital forensics
• [21:18-23:34] — Flock camera and cell phone analysis link Thomas to Hailey
• [28:33-29:25] — Thomas’ police interview and emerging contradictions
• [36:49] — Recovered digital conversations confirming relationship
• [40:21-42:02] — Transcripts of disturbing, incriminating conversations with another minor
• [45:07-46:56] — Discovery and recovery of Hailey’s body
• [47:19-48:50] — Community response and personal reflections

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Tone & Style

The hosts maintain an empathetic, journalistic, and detailed tone, interweaving legal expertise with advocacy for victim awareness and safety. They are explicit about the reasons for sharing graphic information—to inform and protect, not to sensationalize—with clear compassion for Hailey and her family.

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Conclusion & Continuing Coverage

The episode concludes with a reminder of Hailey’s impact on her community and the continuing legal process against Thomas. Áine and Kevin reinforce the need for ongoing vigilance and public education as technology changes the landscape of crime and law enforcement’s response.

“We’ll be monitoring this and letting you guys know about further developments. ... But it seems like this is going to be a federal case going forward and we’ll be curious to see what happens next.” —Anya Cain [48:50]

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For Further Support

• Dine to Donate for Hailey’s Family: Kitchen on Main, 8 S. Main St., Fortville, Indiana — 20% of today’s sales to her family ([47:19])
• Contact: tips and info at murdersheetmail.com

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Transcript

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[Anya Cain]

I'm Anya and today we're going to talk about the killing of 17 year old Hayley Busby and federal charges pending against the man accused of taking her. Content Warning this episode contains discussion of murder, including the murder of a child and the sexual abuse of children. There's some incredibly graphic stuff in here, so be warned. So As a reminder, 17 year old Hailey Busby left her home during the night, you know, January 5th to January 6th, 2026. And this has been a case that we've been following pretty closely for a while now. Unfortunately, while police initially classified her as a runaway and then later an endangered missing juvenile, Haley, a 17 year old, never came home. On February 2, 2026, news broke that investigators found her body and it's since come out that a man named Tyler Nike Thomas is the man accused of transporting her from Indiana to Ohio. And now there's A lot of questions around his role in her death. So we're gonn about federal charges that are now sort of pending against him today. My name is Anya Cain, I'm a journalist.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney.

[Anya Cain]

And this is the Murder Sheet.

[Kevin Greenlee]

We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews and deep dives into murder cases. We're the Murder Sheet.

[Anya Cain]

And this is the murder of Hailey Busby, the federal case. Sam. I guess to start off with, can, Kevin, you inform us a little bit about federal charges in a case like this and perhaps like what that can look like in terms of state charges, federal charges, what's going on here?

[Kevin Greenlee]

Well, for one thing, if a crime involves activity in two different states, then who gets to decide which state gets to press charges? Well, usually what you do in that case is you file it in federal court. And a lot of the offenses with which this person is charged with committing involve the states of Ohio and Indiana.

[Anya Cain]

That's right. And so in this case, it's not too surprising that we're seeing federal charges come down. And those charges, I reviewed the criminal complaint and affidavit from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. And those see Tyler Nike Thomas, the 39 year old male charged with the sexual exploitation of a minor and travel in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. And he's accused of doing this on the dates of January 6th to 7th in the counties of Franklin and Hawking county in Ohio.

[Kevin Greenlee]

So at least as we record, he has not yet been charged with anything directly relating to her death.

[Anya Cain]

That's right. And Kevin, as an attorney, does that confuse you? Is that concerning to you? Does that mean they don't have enough evidence or something that's going wrong with the case?

[Kevin Greenlee]

It means, it could mean any of those things. But basically, I assume what it means is they don't have enough evidence. I don't know if an autopsy has been done. We don't know what the cause of death was. There's still some unknowns, I imagine.

[Anya Cain]

I guess what I was trying to elicit there is. I don't think there's any reason for thinking the case is bungled or, you know, justice is on its own timeline. You know, like it's not something where I think, you know, they're going to do what the evidence says and they're going to go where the evidence goes. And, you know, I think there's going to be every effort to hold whoever did this to Haley accountable. But it's not something where I'm like, you know, I think sometimes people kind of freak out if stuff isn't instantaneous. And, you know, it could take a while to look at autopsy and rule things out or rule things in and perform things in the proper way. So it's. It's not really that big of a deal in that sense. This affidavit came in February 9, 2026. We're getting into it now. And it was. The complainant is Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Josh Salter. And it was signed off on by United States Magistrate Judge Kimberly A. Jolson. So we're going to go into the complaint. I want to give a warning. This gets into some pretty dark and horrible stuff. We made the editorial decision in our past coverage to not really get into some of the sexual exploitation elements of this case because, frankly, we just feel protective of a young girl's privacy, even in death. But in this episode, I think we will be being a bit more explicit and just reading this out because I want the parents in particular listening to understand what is going on here and what we are up against when it comes to the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. And I'm. I feel like I'm giving that caveat if you would find that disturbing or something that you don't want to listen to, we understand. And you can duck out or skip ahead or be prepared to skip ahead, but I think. I think it's important to talk about, and I just want to be clear, our intentions there are to inform the public about just how bad it is out there. Reading it to me was extremely upsetting, and so I don't blame anyone for not wanting to hear it, but I also feel like we need to talk about this stuff. So start out with the mention. The affiant, Josh Salter, he became an agent. And they always kind of often go through, like, here's who I am when they're starting these out. He was an agent in October of 2020, 2014, on the child. And he's been on the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in the Cincinnati Division with Columbus, Ohio, as his resident agency. He is then, therefore, well versed in investigating Internet crimes against children, including online exploitation and child sexual abuse materials. In the affidavit, they use the term child pornography. That's not a term we prefer because pornography implies some level of consent. And what these really are are child sexual abuse materials. So just noting that if you do end up reading any of these documents, he's also done a Lot of. I mean he seems like he's had an impressive career. He's done a lot of investigation, search warrants on computer related offenses in general and worked with international law enforcement and agencies on cyber terrorism, terrorist financing through computer, as well as violent crimes against children, white collar crimes, healthcare fraud, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and again the quote, illegal production, distribution, transmission, receipt and possession of csam. So he unfortunately has had to look at a lot of CSAM in his career. Before the FBI for four years he was a civilian intelligence specialist for the United States Air Force at the National Air and Space Intelligence center and that was located at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and that's northeast of Dayton, Ohio. So he worked with a lot of classified intelligence, did forensic trainings around computers with the Department of Justice and Department of Defense and he's certified in Windows mobile, memory forensics, incident response and penetration testing. He is certified by the Department of Justice as a digital extraction technician and also received his Bachelor of Arts from Anderson University which is of course in Anderson, Indiana. And that was in computer science with a focus on programming, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Very highly qualified to deal with this. So now let's get into the facts supporting probable cause. Some of these things are redacted.

[Kevin Greenlee]

So.

[Anya Cain]

You know, just note that. Kevin, do you Want to read 3, 4 and 5?

[Kevin Greenlee]

Okay. Since approximately January 22, 2026 your find has been receiving information from various law enforcement agencies including the Fishers Indiana Police Department, FBI Indianapolis Columbus Ohio Police Department, Hocking County Ohio Sheriff's Office and Perry County Ohio Sheriff's Office regarding the disappearance and death of minor victim, a 17 year old female from Fortville, Indiana. Your Fine has spoken to other law enforcement officers who had reports and conducted examinations of digital devices pertaining to this investigation. As a result, your client knows the following. On the morning of January 6, 2026, the parents of minor victim awoke to find that minor victim was missing from their residence in Fortville, Indiana where she lived with them. They found a note from minor victim stating that she had run away and asking that no one search for her. They noticed that minor victim had taken her cell phone and a few personal items with her. They then called 911 to report minor victim's disappearance to law enforcement. Officers with the Fishers Police department responded to the home that morning and initiated an investigation. Minor victim's parents informed the responding Fisher's police department officers about the circumstances of her disappearance as well as what they knew of her past online activity. Officers attempted to contact friends of acquaintances of minor victim. But no one was able to provide information about minor victim's whereabouts. Fisher's PD also obtained a ping warrant for minor victim's phone number. But the information received from the cellular phone provider indicated that her phone had been shut off or placed in airplane mode because it was not receiving a signal from any cellular tower.

[Anya Cain]

So obviously just a horrific set of circumstances for this family. My heart goes out to them. Just a note, people. You know, it's often been reported that Haley, and we can just call her Haley. I mean, minor victim one is Haley. You know, so she's from the border of Fishers in Fortville. Fortville is one town over. It's like one town over. It's in Hancock County. But there's some complicated thing where like, Fishers is annexing Fortville. So she was like, really like on the border. Um, so that's why. That's the discrepancy there. So this is the situation where, you know, we can understand why law enforcement immediately said she's a runaway because a note is left saying she's running away and, you know, she takes her cell phone. This is not something where someone has come in the house and abducted her, but forcibly. But still, it's a very concerning situation. The parents are immediately on this and trying to deal with it and trying to give Fisher's police department as much information.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And they go to work right away. This document makes clear that the Fishers police department started basically knocking on doors in Haley's neighborhood. They found one person who lived nearby. He woke up that morning about 3:30 in the morning because his dogs were barking. And he looks out his window and he sees a dark minivan in front of his house. He goes outside that. The van goes away. But he has video footage of this van which he gives to the police, but it's not good enough for them to get any real details of that vehicle.

[Anya Cain]

I just want to note that because I think there's a perception sometimes that like, we live in a highly, you know, we hear all the success stories and of crimes that were solved because, oh, look, this is on surveillance footage. And we think we live in this kind of surveillance society. And that is true to a certain extent, but that does not mean that all videos and all surveillance footage is going to ultimately help crack a case. You can get surveillance footage and just not be able to narrow down what kind of vehicle it is or see the license plate. And it might help you in the long term, but it doesn't necessarily get a solve immediately. So I think that's just important to recognize.

[Kevin Greenlee]

This vehicle showed up on some footage from another neighbor as well. And that footage also picked up the sounds of the first neighbor's dog barking around I think 3:20 in the morning. And then this, this, this vehicle is then seen leaving.

[Anya Cain]

So the first video was around I think 3:30. And then the other video captures this van coming in at like 3:14. It's pulling on, it's basically going eastbound on 101st street toward where Haley lived. And then it pulls on to a side street believed to be west street, stops, turns off its headlights and then turns the headlights back on, continues eastbound on 101st in the direction of Haley's house. And then it pulls out of camera view and then returns to camera view and was observed stopping at the end of Haley street at 3:19am, 3:21am that's when the dog starts barking. So it's all. They're triangulating this vehicle's movements.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And Hailey's digital devices were removed from her homes Internet network around the same time I think between 3:05 and 3:10am so you have all this stuff happening at the same time until police conclude Haley was in that van.

[Anya Cain]

So there's a big paragraph redacted at this point. So, but yeah, so what Fisher's police department does is submit this emergency disclosure request to Apple. They're trying to get any icloud information that had been retained from Ailey's phone. And that was where that information came from, where they gave a return showing the device's last outgoing text message was 3:04am on January 6th. And that was an automated message from TikTok. And then what basically they found was that quote, her reply message appeared to show her attempting to log into an account. End quote.

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[Kevin Greenlee]

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[Anya Cain]

Yep. I had some pretty severe doubts.

[Kevin Greenlee]

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[Anya Cain]

Quince.com msheet and then Haley's dad is like looking into this himself and he tells Fisher's police department that her devices were removed from the home's Internet router between 3:05 and 3:10am on January 6th. I mean, God, I can't even imagine waking up to this. It's horrible. So, um, this is basically. And then the other thing that they note here is that days after Haley disappeared, her parents, quote, disclosed to FPD additional details about Haley. And then a lot of this is redacted. But it also notes, quote, been able to log into Haley's Snapchat account and observe private messages with an adult male. End quote. So it sounds like the parents were able to get into her Snapchat at some point. That can take a while because you don't know what your kid's password is. And it's a whole thing. Big block of text redacted here. And then they continue. And now is where we're getting into the vehicle information. Even more so. Do you Want to read 11 and 12?

[Kevin Greenlee]

On January 16, 2026, FPD reviewed the license plate reader cameras that were in the area of Haley's residence around the time she was believed to have left her residence. That review revealed a black 2014 Acura SUV with Indiana license plate WEP220 in the area. Fisher's PD tracked the vehicle across several Flock cameras and noticed it traveling eastbound away from Fishers, Indiana. Fisher's PD reviewed the Flock camera history for the Indiana license plate and noted that the vehicle's pattern of life was primarily in Columbus, Ohio. Fisher's PD quickly reached out to the owner of the vehicle, Jane Doe 2. Via telephone, Jane Doe II confirmed that she owned the black 2014 Acura SUV. Jane Doe informed Fisher's PD that she was in Florida on January 6, but that Thomas may have been driving the vehicle at that time. Approximately an hour after the initial phone call ended, Jane Doe called Fisher's PD back and informed them that she spoke to Thomas and confirmed that he was the one driving the vehicle. The morning of January 6th in the area of Luxhaven, which was approximately one mile from Haley's residence. Jane Doe provided Thomas's phone number.

[Anya Cain]

So Thomas is Tyler Thomas the suspect in this case. So this. So by January 16th is when it sounds like, you know, that's coming up in a big way. I think it's interesting. We're not normally they would say Tyler Thomas herefore mentioned as Thomas. So I'm wondering if he comes up prior to this in some of the redacted texted text. Yeah, like, I would be curious what that was about and why he's just Thomas here. It's possible I'm wrong, but, yeah, like, that's, you know, and this is several days later. So, you know, I'd be curious. I don't know how this works usually. Like, does this flock information usually take that long? Was there a reason they were kind of honing in on, like, how did that work as far as getting to flock on the 16th, and then now.

[Kevin Greenlee]

That they have his phone number, they're able basically to track the movement of his phone on January 6th?

[Anya Cain]

That's right. So this is some of the information that they're able to get from that quote. FBI Indianapolis had previously offered assistance in the investigation of Haley's disappearance. And FPD provided the call detail records they received from T mobile to the FBI's Cellular Analysis Surveillance Team cast for review. Cast analysis of the records revealed that the phone traveled from Columbus, Ohio to Fortville, Indiana, overnight on January 5th into January 6th and returned to Columbus the morning of January 6th. Cass further determined the subsequent travel of the phone from Columbus, Ohio, to Logan, Ohio, on the afternoon of January 6th. It arrived in the area of several Airbnb residences off of Walnut Dowler Road in Logan, left the location of the Airbnb residences approximately five to ten minutes later and traveled into the town of Logan, Ohio, ending in the vicinity of a Kroger grocery store off Chieftain Drive. The phone remained in the area of the kroger for approximately five to 10 minutes before traveling back to the previous area of the Airbnb residence. According to cast analysis, the phone remained at that location until approximately 9:25am on January 7, 2026, at which time it traveled to an area northeast of Logan, Ohio, near North Country Trail trailhead. The phone remained in that location until approximately 2:15pm when it began to travel back toward Columbus, Ohio. So, as you may remember from our conversation with a, you know, kind of our reporting, talking to someone from the area around Hocking County, Ohio, the county seat of Hocking, Ohio, is Hocking county is Logan. This is a small little city. It's about 7,200 people. Got a little historic downtown park. That's where the court is. It's small. Hocking county is known for the Hocking Hills region. And it is. There's. Even though, like there's a small population there, there's a ton of homes, cabins, rental cabins, homes, vacation spots are a huge, thriving concern down there. And like, it's really not unusual for there to be a ton of like people out there, you know, throughout the year, frankly, to see the natural beauty, beauty of the Hocking Hills region. So this is a. As we've reported in the past, police believe that Haley was killed at the Hawking Hills, at the Hawking county residence that they were at, which is an Airbnb and that's come out since. But there was also abuse, sexual abuse going on at the Franklin county location. This guy Thomas has some kind of residence in Columbus, Ohio. And so there's some documented sexual abuse there. And then they believe he killed her at Hockin County.

[Kevin Greenlee]

So, so at this point on January 16, 2026, the police go and talk to Thomas. You can understand what they wanted to know, which was basically, we have you in your vehicle in the same area Haley was last seen. What's going on? What's your story? Here's what he told them. Quote, Thomas confirmed he was driving the Acura SUV on the morning of January 6th in Indiana. He initially stated he was in the area to look at different places, including the local airport and an apple orchard. Partway through the interview, Thomas admitted to picking up Haley from her residence. Fisher's PD showed Thomas a picture of Haley and Thomas confirmed that picture depicted the person he picked up in Fishers, Indiana. Thomas stated that he met Haley online through Discord and been playing various games with her. At that point in the interview, Thomas retrieved his phone and showed Fisher's PD his Discord account and how he was communicating with Haley. Thomas stated that Haley asked him to pick her up from her residence, to which he agreed. Thomas stated once he picked up Haley from her residence, he drove eastbound towards Ohio with her. Thomas stated that near Eden, Ohio, Haley requested that he drop her off on the side of the road. Thomas also revealed that he communicated with Haley via an application called Session, which was a secure communication application. Thomas retrieved his phone and showed Fisher's PD the exact location from a map on his phone where he claimed he had dropped off Haley. Okay, so he's saying, yes, I did, I did do it. I did pick her up, but I picked her up at her request and I dropped her off at this location in Ohio. And obviously at that point, she was still alive. So I'm not responsible for what happened next.

[Anya Cain]

He was even super specific about it. He said he dropped her off at the intersection of U.S. 35 and State Road 320 in Eden. So he had like this whole story in mind, this whole location.

[Kevin Greenlee]

But there are a couple of problems.

[Anya Cain]

Well, I just. Can I just also, before we get into the problems with that, have you ever heard of this Session app before?

[Kevin Greenlee]

I have not.

[Anya Cain]

See, this is a big problem. I'm just saying, look, you and I know about, you know, a decent amount of things around this because we cover cases involving child sexual abuse materials and child sexual exploitation on the Internet. This is what parents are up against, though. The minute you turn around, there's some new secure app that predators are using to speak to children online. I had never heard of Sessions, so that just hit me of like, if we're doing that and we kind of immerse ourselves in this world to a certain extent, that's what parents are up against. Go ahead.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One of the big problems where he said he stopped at his location to drop her off, and that was not consistent with what the movements of his phone showed. So, like, he's lying.

[Anya Cain]

He's lying. And, you know, and it's pretty easy to figure that out. As you said, if it's, if it's not matching up on the phone, then what's going on there?

[Kevin Greenlee]

They then learned that he stayed at an Airbnb in Logan, Ohio with another person on January 6th.

[Anya Cain]

Well, I just want to say that that's. There's another person on the reservation.

[Kevin Greenlee]

So another person on the reservation.

[Anya Cain]

That's not clear to me who that is. Or is that a made up person, or is that a real person who wasn't actually there and wasn't actually involved, or is it another person where it opens up questions about how many people were involved in this situation. And that was on January 18, where Fisher's Police department confirmed with Airbnb that that was the case.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And then on January 21st to get a search warrant to search his home.

[Anya Cain]

And I just want to go back a little bit and say that the Airbnb he stayed at was on Walnut Dowler in Logan, Ohio, confirming the phone record. So things are kind of adding up. Things are sort of being pieced together. So from there, on January 21, 2026, a search warrant was signed in the Franklin County Municipal Court to search the residents of this guy's residence on Hunter Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, to locate any evidence related to the disappearance of Haley. During the execution of the search warrant that same day, CPD collected numerous items, including cell phones, laptops, computers, and other items of potential evidentiary value. CPD located the black 2014 Acura RDX with Indiana plate WEP220, backed into the detached garage on the premises. CPD transported the vehicle to the CPD impound lot for processing. So now they're getting all the evidence that they're wanting to go through, and they search his residence on January 21, and they also interview him at that time at headquarters. So they give him his constitutional rights waiver, and he says he understands the waiver portion, and he goes on to kind of give some information that is. Is important. He says that he knew Haley. He said they've been playing video games like Roblox and League of Legends for over a year. And he also said that he and Haley communicated on Discord. Discord is like an app kind of, that people used to chat with each other. And it's, you know, kind of like a big community. You can kind of meet people that way. So Columbus PD asked Thomas, you know, if he knew when she would turn 18. And this is what he said. Quote, I thought she was 18, but it came out that she's gotten months until 18, end quote.

[Kevin Greenlee]

She went on to say that the plan was for him to pick up Haley around Christmas time, but then they. They ultimately changed that to the night, I guess, of January 5th to January 6th. The reservation for the Airbnb that we mentioned earlier, that reservation was made on January 4th.

[Anya Cain]

So he claims.

[Kevin Greenlee]

He claims, he says that Haley did not know about the Airbnb, quote, and that it was for him, since he already knew that was like a crime to help someone run away. Continuing to quote, Thomas denied hurting or killing Haley. However, when CPD asked Thomas if he would tell them if he did kill her, he responded, I think she is alive and safe. And CPD interrupted him and asked, so you wouldn't tell me if you did? To which Thomas replied, no, no, I wouldn't tell you. I wouldn't say anything earlier because I want her to be 18 and not reach back to her family. CBT told Thomas that they believed he was not telling the truth, but. And to tell them what really happened, to which Thomas stated, she'll be all right, and I would like to talk to a lawyer, too. And that was the conclusion of that interview.

[Anya Cain]

Once you ask for a lawyer, that's It. So this is the situation where he's kind of portraying himself as somebody who's helping her run away, has good intentions here, and just wants to get her away from her family. You know, not a normal thing for, like, an adult male to be doing. I just want to note. Like, that just strikes me as total nonsense, but that's what he's portraying himself as. Just trying to help her. And then they go into. They get, you know, on this, on the 22nd, they get the search warrant for the car, and they collect five items, including a hair tie and DNA swabs. So they're just, you know, they're trying to place Haley in some of these.

[Kevin Greenlee]

They get his bank records. They find out that there were charges to a gas station that was between Columbus, Ohio and Indiana. There was a charge at a restaurant in Fortville, Indiana. It was the very restaurant where Haley worked. These charges occurred on June 5, 2025, which seems to indicate that Thomas had traveled to Indiana previously and that this January encounter was not their first in real life. Meeting there. Prior to the one day prior to those charges in Indiana, he bought something at an adult novelty store called the Lion's Den in Columbus, Ohio.

[Anya Cain]

I know that Haley worked at the Kitchen on Maine in Fortville. So it would have been a situation where perhaps she's saying, meet me here, and he's going to her restaurant, and there's using that as kind of an opportunity to meet up. Um, so on January 23, 2026, a search warrant was again signed in the Franklin County Municipal Court. And that's for his cell phone, which had been seized on the 21st. And they. The, you know, Agent Salter performs a forensic extraction of that device, and he's looking at different forensic fragments, as he calls them, related to the communications and interactions between Thomas and Haley. That tells me that maybe there was some attempt to just delete stuff or get rid of it if there's only fragments remaining. And he finds the following. He finds a cached image, and that shows a Snapchat user profile screenshot with the username of Hayley, you know, whatever her username was. That's what it's showing. And says, quote, at the bottom right, at the bottom right corner of the image was a white triangle with an icon of a blue folder indicating that the application was running inside of Samsung's secure folder. And they also find a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation with Haley's username and another party believed to be Thomas. And again, this is from the Samsung secure folder, seemingly Quote, there was no date visible in the conversation. However, the last access time of both screenshots was on July 1, 2025. Let's read through the conversation. Um, I think me. I think the person listed as me is Thomas. Is that your read?

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yes.

[Anya Cain]

So you beat Thomas. I'll be Haley.

[Kevin Greenlee]

What time? Earlier works best.

[Anya Cain]

Usually late morning or early afternoon if I'm not at the gym. If neither parents are home, I could probably call till like 5.

[Kevin Greenlee]

I can't even remember how long ago it was when I told you my name and age. Haha.

[Anya Cain]

Omg. Btw, I've like low key forgotten your exact age. I have your B day in my calendar though. Lol. Or at least I did.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Let's redo it on the other app. Lol. I'm going to jump over.

[Anya Cain]

It's a classic tactic by predators. I just want to know to, you know, have kids be switching between apps to more secure conversations or conversations where they're kind of being lured out. So they go and talk about how this Salter was able to figure out that Snapchat was on Thomas's phone, but at some point was uninstalled before the forensic extraction. So again, attempts to delete evidence. Now we're going to get into some pretty dark, horrible stuff. So I just, you know, if you want to kind of cut out here, we understand, but I think it's important to give a sense of what we're talking about here. You know, I think sometimes when we don't talk about specifics, it's kind of makes it sound like it's not as horrible as it really is.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yeah, they found some images and I'll read what those images were. Quote, the images depicted Thomas sitting in the seat of a vehicle, staring at the camera and an individual sitting next to him with long curly dark hair similar to Haley's, lean over with her face next to his neck, giving the appearance of kissing his neck. The vehicle seats and interior were similar to the 2014 Acura that was photographed and processed by CPD on January 22nd. The files all had last access dates of July 2nd, 2025.

[Anya Cain]

And what they found was that Thomas's phone had placed a call on July 22, on July 2, 2025, utilizing a cellular tower near Fortville. So he's going to visit Haley in the summer.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yes.

[Anya Cain]

In addition to that, they found audio files that were turn by turn navigation audio files, including talking about exit 131 for Wilbur Wright Road and 2 miles take exit 137 for Indiana 1 toward Hagerstown Connorsville. And that was listed as being accessed January 6th at 4:31am and these are exits. Kind of like taking him to Haley. And also more cached image talking about navigation within Ohio and the location of the North Country Trail trailhead. And you know this is a. This is kind of like going into you know, things associated with the crime. His attempts to kind of get there.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And then. And then there's what? There's so much in this material that's disturbing. But I think what we're about to discuss may be what I found most disturbing. And this is a conversation between Thomas and an unidentified person who claimed to be in 10th grade. So a teenager.

[Anya Cain]

Yes. And this was from 12-13-2025. This is incredibly disturbing.

[Kevin Greenlee]

That's when the conversation began. I think it may have gone on over a couple of days.

[Anya Cain]

Yeah.

[Kevin Greenlee]

I. Why don't I read Thomas's part and you be the 10th grader? Yeah. Why hello.

[Anya Cain]

Hi.

[Kevin Greenlee]

We've such cute looking pictures. No one would ever guess. Hehehe. And was daydreaming about us disposing of a toy for Christmas.

[Anya Cain]

Mmm. Oki.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Sorry. Depraved Gore thought. Is that going too far?

[Anya Cain]

Oh I just didn't understand it.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Ah. Forgive me. I wanted to make a few new holes in it to see how good it felt.

[Anya Cain]

In what?

[Kevin Greenlee]

Some young little meat teen.

[Anya Cain]

Oh Okie.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Does baby carve parts of her own body?

[Anya Cain]

We need to finish this later. I'm studying in a week. Yeah, you're right. Oh, happy early birthday.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Thank you. Is that ninth grade?

[Anya Cain]

Tenth.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And that was the end of that. What the f. I'm so he clearly has. He clearly has fantasies about committing violent acts on someone underage.

[Anya Cain]

He's talking about gore. He's talking about doing something to a teen. He's talking about somebody carving parts of their own body. I don't know if that's a reference to self harm. It's really disgusting and horrifying. Was daydreaming about us disposing of a toy for Christmas. That's very concerning.

[Kevin Greenlee]

That is very concerning.

[Anya Cain]

What is a toy in his mind.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yeah. Is a toy a human body or is a toy something that an ordinary person might think of?

[Anya Cain]

And he knows he's talking to someone who's at least claiming to be in 10th grade.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yeah.

[Anya Cain]

So it's. It's utterly. It's utterly horrifying. We'll get into the next part. This. You know.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yeah. They also found an image. I'm reading this. The image depicted a fully nude prepubescent girl approximately 7 to 10 years old, laying on her back wearing a purple mask over her eyes. An individual wearing a black mask was laying on top of the girl with his hands on her buttocks and his mouth next to her vagina. So a disturbing, disturbing image.

[Anya Cain]

Salter at that point had to stop reviewing the vice and get a second search warrant to include anything related to possession and distribution of CSAM. And that was obtained on January 26th.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And at that point they found 15 images further and some of them appear to be of Haley.

[Anya Cain]

Yeah.

[Kevin Greenlee]

I, I. Did you want to talk about those or just say they're disturbing and sexual and move on?

[Anya Cain]

I'll try to kind of get through them quickly.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Okay.

[Anya Cain]

They, they, they, I mean they're horrifying. They get into, they talk about a blue diamond pattern blanket that matches a blanket found and seized at the Hunter Avenue residence. They talk about her lying on that and you know, they talk about her being fully nude. Sex acts, sex acts, A man grabbing her neck, oral sex. And. You know, it's just, it's just the sexual abuse of a 17 year old girl. And in addition to that, so there's these Hunter Avenue ones and then there's a bathroom that she appears nude in with a fully nude adult male as well. And that seems to be the bathroom from the Airbnb in Walnut dollar in Logan, Ohio. So you're seeing them go from Hunter Avenue in Columbus to Logan. So Salter then digs into more applications. He finds Roblox and Discord installed on Thomas's device. He finds Sessions, Snapchat, Kik and Telegram that were previously installed but have been deleted. And then he said, quote, other than the cached Snapchat screenshot, which was a device created file that an average user would not know to delete, no communications between Thomas and Haley could be located on the device, end quote. So clearly an effort to scrub all communications.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Yes.

[Anya Cain]

And Note that on January 30, 31st, 2026, a criminal complaint and arrest warrant was signed in Franklin county and he was charged with pandering sexually oriented matter to involving a minor and tampering with evidence. He was taken into custody. And then they talked about how on February 1, 2026, Thomas was picked up from Franklin County Corrections Facility by Franklin County Sheriff's Office, CPD and FBI transported to the North County Trail trailhead in Wayne National Forest. Quote, Thomas's attorney followed Thomas and law enforcement in a separate vehicle from Columbus to the trailhead. Upon arrival, Thomas, his attorney and the transporting officers met with personnel from PCSO Perry County Prosecutor's Office, U.S. forest Service, the FBI and FBI, the parties all walked to a location northeast of the trailhead where Thomas pointed out that Haley's body was buried. The location was secured by PCSO while Thomas was transported back to Columbus and from there the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, BCI Crime Scene Unit, CSU was contacted. They went there, they met with everyone there and then they went to that location. It says, quote, CSU removed the snow and upper layer of frozen dirt and eventually unearthed dismembered human remains. CSU placed the recovered remains into a body bag and turned it over to Perry County Coroner who arrived on scene once the remains were discovered. And they did a rapid DNA test of those remains on February 2 and that the Haley's DNA had been collected from her residence and it matched the dismissed body.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Obvious point, if he knows where the body is buried, he clearly has guilty knowledge of what happened and there doesn't appear to be any evidence that she was with anyone but him. So I, I would not be surprised. In fact, I would expect there ultimately to be some sort of charges filed in connection with her death against him.

[Anya Cain]

I completely agree. I will say that I know that on, you know, at this point the FB FBI Evidence Response Team has executed a second search warrant at the Walnut Dollar Logan, Ohio Airbnb residence and they are locating, you know, they located potential traces of blood throughout the residence and those are waning further analysis as of the filing of that. But it's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. I will say that this evening, February 16, 2026, there is going to be, and it's currently going on now from 11am to 8pm A dine to donate at the kitchen on Main where Haley worked. And 20% of sales, if you go there to this Fortville restaurant, the kitchen on main, 20% of the sales will be donated to Hailey Busby's family. And this restaurant is at 8 S. Main St. In Fortville, Indiana. So if you are so inclined, you can go there. I will say whenever we've been, you know, in Carmel or Fishers or kind of surrounding areas, we see a lot of pink lights, pink ribbons, people. This is hitting home for people here. This never should have happened to this young girl. And my heart goes out to her family. This is this. You knew this affidavit was going to be horrific, but it didn't really prepare me to read it, what happened to her. And it just makes me so sad and angry for her. I mean she, her life was stolen from her. Yeah. But Yep. That we'll be monitoring this and kind of letting you guys know about other further developments. But it seems like this is going to be a federal case going forward and we'll be curious to see what happens next. But thanks for listening.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email [e-mail] if you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.

[Anya Cain]

If you're interested in joining our Patreon, that's available at www.patreon.com. if you want to tip us a bit of money for records requests, you can do so at www. Buymeacoffee.com murdersheet we very much appreciate any support.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the [e-mail] if you're looking to talk with.

[Anya Cain]

Other listeners about a case we've covered, you can join the Murder Sheet Discussion group on Facebook. We mostly focus our time on research and reporting, so we're not on social media much. We do try to check our email account, but we ask for patience as we often receive a lot of messages. Thanks again for listening.

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