A 48-year-old murder mystery has been solved. Indiana State Police have officially closed the case of Everett Armstrong, an 84-year-old World War I veteran and beloved local banjo player who was found fatally shot in his rural Adams County home on August 19, 1977. Armstrong’s death was discovered by a fuel delivery driver and ruled a homicide. Despite early witness statements and even arrests in 1981, the case went cold for decades after charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. In 2013, the Indiana State Police Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation and uncovered compelling witness testimony linking James A. McBride II to the murder. McBride had reportedly confessed to four individuals within 24 hours of the crime, providing details only the killer would know—well before the murder was publicly reported. McBride, born in 1954 in Decatur, Indiana, died in June 2024. In 2025, ISP presented their findings to Adams County Prosecutor Jeremy Brown, who concluded that McBride would have been charged with Armstrong’s murder had he still been alive. The resolution of this nearly half-century-old case was the result of joint efforts by the Indiana State Police, the Adams County Sheriff’s Department, the County Coroner, and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Everett Armstrong
