Kevin Greenlee (3:34)

Well, one Reason is that they are essentially an attack on the legal system itself. People who do things like this often do it because they don't like the result of a proceeding. Oh, the attorney was out to get me. The judge was out to get me. So you are attacking the integrity of the system itself, which is a huge threat to everyone involved in that process. I'd say also that when witnesses are injured or murdered, that's also an attack on the administration of the process itself. And it also occurs to me, this is a point I think we've discussed before. If a person is crazy enough to attack a judge.

Anya Cain (4:28)

I love Blunt Kevin.

Kevin Greenlee (4:30)

Or a prosecutor or a defense attorney, if they are crazy enough to do that, what else are they capable of? And if a judge is not safe from their anger and their violence, then how safe could any of us be from it?

Anya Cain (4:49)

That's. Yeah, it's something that's.

Kevin Greenlee (4:52)

It is crazy to attack a judge.

Anya Cain (4:54)

I concur.

Kevin Greenlee (4:56)

You have to understand that if you attack a judge, it's going to get attention, it's going to be a high profile crime, and you getting caught and punished is going to be a priority for a whole lot of people. So it's not a rational decision. You're not going to get away with it. Maybe there's a little bit of time between the incident and your arrest, but you're going to be arrested and you're going to be punished for it. It's a crazy thing to do.

Anya Cain (5:26)

It really, truly is. And so, yeah, I think it's important to talk about. And when, you know, when we were talking about this, I think with, with people like there's political violence in the sense of it's one side against another. Right. But then there's also this kind of attack on the political system or the, the system as a whole. And, and I think we don't know enough about anything or there's not, you know, there's not been an arrest. So we can't know the specific motivations here, but it's, it's certainly definitely in the category of an, you know, an attack on the system to some extent.

Kevin Greenlee (6:04)

So there's been speculation about motives, but obviously we don't know what the motive is if we don't know the identity of the perpetrator.

Anya Cain (6:11)

Right. So it's, it's. We can, you know, we can do some limited speculation, but that would be very limited. I think it. Just to give a little bit of background on this judge though, before we get started. So this is Judge Stephen Meyer and his wife Kimberly. But Judge Stephen is the judge and they both survived, by the way. But we're, you know, still going to talk about this because, I mean, it seems like very clearly an attempted murder. Meyer is a longtime judge in Tippecanoe county, which is where Lafayette, Indiana is, and he is listed as running unopposed for the Tippecanoe County Superior Court 2 in 2020 in the Journal and Courier. And so he ran unopposed and he is a Democrat. That is what we know about him in terms of just kind of coming into this. Whether or not his political affiliation has anything to do with this, there's just no, we don't know because we don't know who did this. We don't know what happened. Is it a specific thing against him because he ruled a certain way? Is it a specific thing that's more of a personal thing? I don't know. We just don't know. But it's very concerning. Looking into his background kind of on newspapers.com, i, you know, kind of found he seems to do a lot of criminal cases in Superior court too. There's one that came up In April of 2025 in the journaling career was the case of Eric McCamey. And he was, Meyer sentenced him to 22 years in prison for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. And he was also a habitual traffic violator. And this came after the death of Shiana McKamey, who died in 2022. That was his seven week old daughter who he was convicted of neglecting, so gave him a big sentence for that. You had a case where there was a man named Travion Barbie and he attacked a couple in Centennial park on January 10, 2023. Again, this is from the Journal and Courier. And he, Judge Meyer sentenced Barbie to 40 years on one count of attempted murder, 35 years on the second count of attempted murder, and then added 10 years for being a habitual offender. So, you know, some, some, some pretty, you know, jarring cases for sure. And, you know, including murder, including people getting killed in horrible car wrecks, including neglect. So like just kind of what you would expect somebody to be seeing in a, in a city where unfortunately, like a lot of bad stuff can end up happening. Um, there was one case he worked on in 2024 that resulted in a mistrial. That was the case of Wallace Smith iii. And that was a case where that guy killed a guy named George Darement Jr. And some people, like, that was the case where it was like they weren't sure if it was defense you know, self defense or not. So they deadlocked and Meyer declared a mistrial. So, yeah, this is.

Kevin Greenlee (9:34)

Should we talk.

Anya Cain (9:34)

This is kind of like just kind of the standard stuff you would say. Yeah.

Kevin Greenlee (9:37)

Should we talk a little bit about Lafayette in Tippecanoe County? I think if you're outside of Indiana, you may not know. Or is this like another Delphi? Is this like a big city? What is Tippecanoe county like? Cause certainly we spent plenty of time in Lafayette.

Anya Cain (9:54)

Lafayette is. Yeah, we definitely. We go. We are up there a lot. That is true. Lafayette is. It's the seat of Tippecanoe County. It's. West Lafayette is home to Purdue University, the Boilermakers. That's where your father's alma mater. It's along Lafayette itself, is along the Wabash River. And, you know, I don't.

Kevin Greenlee (10:22)

West Lafayette is kind of a typical college town.

Anya Cain (10:24)

Yeah, West Lafayette's very typical college town. It has that college town vibe. Purdue excels at the kind of engineering, things like that, the science.

Kevin Greenlee (10:34)

Maybe an hour north of Indianapolis.

Anya Cain (10:36)

Yeah. And I guess the Lafayette and West Lafayette are technically separate, but they're all the Lafayette metropolitan area, so they're right near each other. I think there's about like, in that general area, there's about like, I think a bit over 200,000 people. So it's like a decent sized city. It's obviously named after one of our favorite Revolutionary War heroes, the Marquis de Lafayette. And, you know, it's so, so it's.

Kevin Greenlee (11:03)

Not like a huge population center like in Indianapolis. It's also not a tiny town. 200,000 people is pretty substantial. And I don't even know if that 200,000 figure includes students or not, because certainly there's plenty of students at Purdue.

Anya Cain (11:19)

Yeah. And I know, you know, it's sort of between you mentioned, it's like it's northwest of Indianapolis and it's southeast of Chicago. So it's. It's in between those. If you're kind of going there and then Tippecanoe county. In general, Lafayette's the biggest city within that. But there's. There's other communities. There's, you know, Lafayette, West Lafayette battlegrounds up there. You know, different. Different things like that, that kind of, you know, lots of interesting history actually up there, but it's not far from Delphi. That has nothing to do with this. It just. We, we. We ended up spending a lot of time in Lafayette and West Lafayette because we were up in Del constantly. We stayed in Lafayette for part of the trial, and it's it's not a huge city. I'd say it's a nice city. I mean, I like it, but obviously there's crime there, too. I guess. One thing I do want to say, though, is that about Judge Stephen Meyer is that in 2025, in December, so just recently, he announced that he would not seek reelection and that by the end of 2026, he would retire. So he had spent 12 years as a judge on the bench, and prior to that, prior to his 2014 election, according to the Journal and Courier, he was for 23 years a Lafayette city councilman. So he had been active in local politics for years, but then spent quite a sizable a number of years on the bench itself. So this is a person who's, you know, extremely experienced. Yeah, this is, I mean, this is, I, I think this is something that seems to have shocked a lot of people up there to have someone attacked like this. Is that, is that fair to say?

Kevin Greenlee (13:16)

Obviously, anybody would be shocked by something like this happening anywhere.

Anya Cain (13:19)

Yeah, yeah. So let's go into the actual facts of what happened, at least as far as we know so far. Oh, one, one. Before we do move on, I will say he, I think probably one of the most high profile cases that Judge Meyer presided over was one of the cases, one of the cases involving Natalia Grace. And this was a young person from the, from Ukraine who. And I, I've, I haven't watched any of these docu series. Some people got really into them and they're definitely like true crime things. But her parents accused, like, adopted her and then accused her of not really being a child. But then she came back and was like, I was, and I was neglected and abused by these adoptive parents. I don't have an opinion on that case because I don't know the facts. But I know, I know some people who do have an opinion and they feel like, you know, they feel a certain way. Some people feel like the parents were actually the villains of that story. But it was kind of portrayed as this, like, case of like, oh, they adopted an adult and all that stuff. So anyways, that's it. That's a case. He, in 2022, he presided over the trials of Michael and Christine Barnett. They were her adoptive parents. And yeah, they kind of, they had this falling out and he's. So, he's therefore associated with, with that case. And yeah, he, he apparently during the trial of Michael Barnett, he ordered that Natalia Grace could only be referred to as an adult because there had been a previous ruling regarding her birth year and Also, after the couple involved went on Good Morning America in 2019, according to Fox News, he issued a gag order. Ultimately, Michael Barnett was found not guilty by a jury in 2022, and Meyer dismissed charges against Christine Barnett in 2023. So that's the outcome of that case. And Fox News is also close, quick to note that Grace has not been named as a suspect in the Myers. I don't think that would be the case here.

Kevin Greenlee (15:43)

It's 2026. Time for a wardrobe refresh. Time for some pieces that will help you beat the chilly temperatures.

Anya Cain (15:50)

Time to go to Quince. This is a brand that specializes in luxury goods for less. They make deals with ethical artisans to get you the best in clothing, home goods and travel items for so much less. So that means you can get luxe on a budget.

Kevin Greenlee (16:03)

We've gotten so many of their items. We love Quint's. Their items are sharp, timeless and well crafted. Mongolian cashmere sweaters, leather and suede outerwear, down jackets, wool coats, everything you need for winter.

Anya Cain (16:18)

I love my Quint's clothes. They've all held up great and I find myself wearing them a lot. They've been my go tos this winter. From my three Mongolian cashmere sweaters to including a fisherman crew neck sweater in ivory that I love to my new washable silk black dress. One of my latest finds is a hundred percent washable silk miniskirt to pair with that fisherman crew neck sweater and presumably a bunch of other tops I own. I really love finding staples I can wear again and again on Quint.

Kevin Greenlee (16:44)

And of course, Anya's also added to her burgeoning beret collection with yet another beret in a new color. Can't wait for her to wear that.

Anya Cain (16:52)

We are sure you'll love Quints. It's great for building up your own style and clothing options this winter without going broke. These are excellent products for a fraction of the price.

Kevin Greenlee (17:01)

Refresh your winter wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com msheet for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com msheet free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com msheet if you're like me, you're.

Anya Cain (17:22)

So into true crime that you kind of get extra careful about stuff, making sure you're not followed. For instance, staying situationally aware and of course checking the locks on your doors and windows before bed. Better safe than sorry, right? Because we all know Bad stuff can and unfortunately does happen.

Kevin Greenlee (17:39)

Well, our sponsor, Simplisafe can help with your peace of mind. We've trusted Simplisafe's home security system for years. Traditional home security systems just don't cut it. They only go off after someone's breaking in. They are purely reactive.

Anya Cain (17:55)

Simplisafe is proactive. Their AI powered cameras detect threats while they're still outside. That's when live monitoring agents jump in. They can address the intruder directly, tell them they're on camera and that the police are coming. They can even set off alarms and sirens and lights.

Kevin Greenlee (18:12)

We love Simplisafe. We used it when we were renters, we used it when we bought our home. It is so easy to set up and allows you so much flexibility. It's reliable. We've gotten threats over our reporting before, so we take this stuff very seriously. And with Simplisafe, we feel we're in great hands.

Anya Cain (18:31)

So protect your home with SimpleLife and get 50% off any new system for a limited time. Just go to simplisafe.com msheet that's simplisafe.com msheet there's no safe like Simplisafe. So this is what we know so far. I mentioned it took place on Sunday and it's, I guess, a bit after 2pm about 2:15pm they, the Meyer couple, Kimberly and Steven, are at their home on Lafayette's south side, and somebody comes to the door with a very ominous statement. And this is very chilling to me, but somebody comes to the door. I believe a male voice says something to the effect of, we have your dog. And I, I mean, that's really chilling. But I, I, I read it at first as somebody saying that they had their dog hostage, but I think it also could be something like, almost like, hey, your dog got out, we have him. You know, open the door and let us in. Like, and that's something I think any dog owner would be kind of freaked out about.

Kevin Greenlee (19:41)

Love.

Anya Cain (19:42)

Like, oh, no, they get out of the back or something and then, like, you know, come to the door to get your, like that's something that I could see myself opening the door to. What do you think, Kevin?

Kevin Greenlee (19:49)

Yeah, definitely.

Anya Cain (19:51)

So they, they yelled through the dog, the door. They found their dog. I don't know what happened where they didn't open the door, but they did not open the door. Maybe they, maybe they had eyes on their dog. I don't know. But the, the person who is at the door then shoots through the door and also shoots through a window near the door. And, you know, so, I mean, that's just absolutely terrifying. And then both of them are injured. I believe Kimberly was shot in the hip, and Steven was also shot as well, but he was shot in the arm. So so far, shell casings have been found on their property. And the Lafayette Police Department is working on this case. Other agencies may also be working on this case. And the. The shooter seemingly fled the area. No one has been arrested yet, but they are. They're looking for this person. So I imagine at this point, do you want to talk about things that would likely be happening as far as the investigation?

Kevin Greenlee (21:07)

At this point, this is just speculation. I wonder if there's any sort of video or camera footage from that general area around the time of the shooting that would enable them to track a person.

Anya Cain (21:25)

Yes, that's something that was very crucial in the recent Tepe murders case out of Columbus, Ohio, where police were able to use video footage in order to basically follow a person of interest along and then be able to identify their car, which ultimately led back to the suspect, Michael McKee, who was then arrested and charged with the murders.

Kevin Greenlee (21:47)

I would also imagine people are taking a look at some recent cases the judge has worked on to see if there's likely to be anyone out there who is violent, who is perhaps feels wronged by some sort of decision the judge has made.

Anya Cain (22:05)

That's exactly right. I thought it was interesting that a terrific reporter out of Indianapolis, Russ McQuaid, who's. Who's with FOX59, when he. He always posts about, like, different news items that he's, like, looking at or his. His team is looking at, he said something to the effect that, quote, law enforcement are looking for a local with a bad attitude who supposedly threatened police before, and maybe the judge had just signed a warrant for his arrest, end quote. So none of that would be confirmed yet. But it's just interesting that, you know, there might be some possibilities that people have in mind as far as someone looking to hurt this specific judge based on whatever legal wranglings. Lately, I got so curious. I literally went on my case and just looked up all the cases. I'm not even kidding. It. You can't.

Kevin Greenlee (22:59)

She's not kidding.

Anya Cain (23:00)

You cannot narrow it down by which court it is, which is really annoying. And my case should change that. But I looked up every case for prosecutor Pat Harrington, who's the Tippecanoe county prosecutor, because I feel like his name would be on a lot of the prosecutions. And then I just went through and did Command find Superior Court, too. But honestly, nothing I saw as far as cases that Judge Meyer was working on really screamed anything to me. There was nothing where I found it. I was like, oh, maybe it's this guy. It was all just kind of, you know, your standard. People dealing methamphetamines, people doing, you know, drinking and driving. Like, it just, you know, nothing. Nothing screamed anything to me. I. So I imagine that kind of can be a challenge for law enforcement when you're dealing with someone who by nature, you know, it was interesting. Like, there was so much chatter on social media about this case. And one thing I thought was kind of nice in a way, where a couple of people were commenting. Well, I mean, some people were commenting terrible things. They were like, well, all judges are bad, so this is good. I mean, like, you just have, like. That's the quality of some people's thinking where they're, like, celebrating this because they are so miserable with their lives that they want to burn down the world, and this makes them feel happy or powerful inside in some way. So I saw a lot of that, and that was disheartening. Did you see any of that?

Kevin Greenlee (24:26)

I did.

Anya Cain (24:27)

I mean, I just don't even know that, like, level of depravity in terms of people's minds. But there's that. And then. But then I saw a couple people. They're like, actually, he sentenced me after I did, like, a dui, and he was pretty nice about it. Like, so there were some people who were like, okay, like, this sucks. Even though he literally sentenced me, I feel like most people who end up going through the system actually fall into that category where they understand at some point, maybe they feel wronged by a prosecutor or wronged by a judge at some point, but for the most part, they might even come to understand of, like, okay, I was kind of out of control and needed to get my life in order, and they might come away with that. And at the very least, you don't have a lot of people who are criminals who are necessarily going and after a judge or a prosecutor or law enforcement for the express reason that doing so will bring down a lot of heat on you. It's not a practical move.

Kevin Greenlee (25:17)

Yeah, like I said, it's crazy. It's not by any stretch of the imagination. It's about the stupidest thing you can do.

Anya Cain (25:23)

It does happen, but it's rare. You know, it does happen, though, but it's not something. It's usually not this calculated. I would say it usually manifests itself. I think it Would be more dangerous to be like, I'm gonna shoot the police officer who pulls me over. Like, it would usually be more like an ambush style thing like that. We've seen that with people ambushing law enforcement. But like, as far as like literally stalking a judge, going to his house, having some ruse at the door, and then shooting through the door when he doesn't open up is really next level and not the sort of thing you'd be typically seeing. I remember there was the Kaufman county murders in Kaufman County, Texas. And that's where some disgraced former public official was going around killing prosecutors and killed one of the prosecutors wives as well. And that was something where it was like he was mad that they were prosecuting him. But that sort of thing again is like very, very rare. So there have been a couple of, like, I'm not, we're, we're going to forego, I guess, necessarily like reporting on this aspect of it yet because it's just too early. And I would feel uncomfortable bringing this up if it then does not pan out to be connected to this situation. But there's been chatter about people being taken into custody. There's been chatter or a person of interest taken into custody. There's been kind of allusions to this in some of the media reporting. There have been discussions of a house getting raided and without charges being filed against somebody related to this specifically. And there was even someone who actually fit the description of what Russ McQuaid said, which was, you know, someone who's been threatening law enforcement. And I read the legal filing about that. But again, I would feel I'd rather hold back on that and talk about it later once it's more confirmed versus like kind of shooting my mouth off about it now and having it turn out to not be related because that would be irresponsible. So we're not going to do that. But you know, I imagine there. I also imagine there's a kind of a factor of like. Because there could be a number of different people who could have possibly done this because there might be a couple of different people who might have been recently upset with a judge at any given time. I think, you know, I think, yeah, I think it's probably police officers are going to be prudent about investigating this and not just, you know, jumping at the first person who might. It might be. I don't know though. I just, I don't want to live in a society where judges are literally under fire for making rulings. And I, I would hope that whoever did this if they're apprehended and convicted, that the book is thrown at them. Because the, the, you need to make an example of people like this. Like, it's, it's not, it's an attack.

Kevin Greenlee (28:26)

On the rule of law. It's a, it's an attack on the rule of law. And there's. That cannot be tolerated in our, our society.

Anya Cain (28:33)

Our justice system is far from perfect, but it's, it's pretty dang good. And I think it gets a bad rap in many respects to a kind of inaccurate degree in the media. I think it's a pretty robust system and there's certainly flaws that should always be worked on and there's certainly, certainly areas where it falls short or it can be unequal and all that needs to be addressed. But you don't address that by just shooting a judge. And you also don't address that by just tearing down the whole system. You work for reform. And, you know, I just, stuff like this just disgusts me. So as far as the Meyers themselves, they are in stable condition. And what it sounds like is, is that there was a tri. I mean, actually Meyer was supposed to do a trial, I guess like this week, but those. That's been postponed. The other Tippet Canoe county judges and the, you know, prosecutor's office and defense attorneys, they've gone back to work there. And Kim Meyer has released a statement that ran in the Indianapolis Star that I will read now. She has apparently been released from the hospital. Again, they were both in stable condition. Quote, I have great confidence in the Lafayette Police Department's investigation and want to thank all the agencies involved for their work. We are also incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community. Everyone has been so kind and compassionate. We would also like to thank the medical personnel who provided care and assistance to us following the incident. And as of January 19th, I know there was also a statement from Loretta.

Kevin Greenlee (30:17)

Rush, who is the Chief justice of the Indiana State Supreme Court.

Anya Cain (30:22)

So this is from the Journal and Courier, and she told the, she told that newspaper, quote, tippican New Superior Court 2. Judge Steve Meyer is a fellow judge and a longtime friend. I am deeply grateful. He and his wife Kim are alive after being shot in their home. Their health and well being are of utmost concern to me. As of the sending of this message, the shooter is purportedly still at large. Any violence against the judge or judge's family is completely unacceptable. As public servants, you are dedicated to the rule of law. I know you joined me in praying for Steve and Kim and their speedy recovery. Meantime, please remain vigilant in your own security. Yeah, this is. This is a statement she released after. After the shooting. Hopefully police can do something with these shell casings. I don't know. I. This is. I mean, I just. It freaks me out. It just like stuff like this makes you think, like, everyone's lost their mind, I guess. I know that's not the case, but, like, you know, it's. I hope. I hope they apprehend this person. And I guess if you have any information I'll get. I'll go ahead and, you know, give, Give the. I. I give that to the police. You know, like, don't, don't. Don't sit on that. And, you know, if. I think all of us, you know, if we see people kind of ranting and raving about stuff like this, you know, that blaming one judge for somebody's problems is really not acceptable. So the tip line for the Lafayette Police is 765-807-1200. Just as a friendly reminder to everybody, police are not looking for investigative suggestions. They don't need anyone to tell them, hey, look at the surveillance footage. They're working on that. But if you have specific information about someone who is involved in concrete, you know, some concrete idea about people making comments that they shouldn't be or whatever, that is something that is helpful and is concrete and it really should never be just like, oh, this guy is a jerk. So maybe it's him. It's like, it's gotta be, am I making sense, Kevin?

Kevin Greenlee (32:33)

Yes, you're making sense.

Anya Cain (32:34)

Am I crazy? Just, you know, we gotta. We want to give high quality tips, and that's only for people who really might know something. You know, other people trying to be helpful. All that's. That's not going to be helpful. So go to the police if you have something concrete. If you have any sort of ideas that you want to bounce around or share or, you know, you think you have something that might interest us, please email us@murdersheetmail.com we would be interested in learning more about what you know, and we'd be happy to kind of bounce around ideas with. With you. Just don't, don't take that to the police, but definitely take it to us. And as far as that goes, you know, I, I just. I. I hope this judge and his wife recover quickly and swiftly from this traumatic incident, and I hope they catch this guy or whoever was involved very quickly.

Kevin Greenlee (33:26)

I'm. I'm sure they will.

Anya Cain (33:28)

I imagine a lot of judges right now are really on edge throughout Indiana.

Kevin Greenlee (33:32)

But yeah, I I'm sure they were captured this person quickly and we will keep an eye on the story.

Anya Cain (33:37)

Absolutely. Thanks everyone for listening.

Kevin Greenlee (33:40)

Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email us@murdersheetmail.com if you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.

Anya Cain (34:01)

If you're interested in joining our Patreon, that's available at www.patreon.com murdersheet. 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 (34:24)

Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the web@kevintg.com if you're looking to talk with.

Anya Cain (34:36)

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.