A warrant was issued out of Jennings County Circuit Court for Kevin Bell, age 39, Dover, Pennsylvania on charges related to a crash that occurred on September 17, 2016 that resulted in the death of Nikki Reed, age 37, Seymour, Indiana.

During the investigation, troopers with the Indiana State Police-Versailles learned that Bell was driving a vehicle that crashed in rural Jennings County near the Ripley County Line, killing Reed who was the front seat passenger.

On Tuesday, September 20, 2016, Bell left the vehicle and was located by a passerby along US 50 in Jennings County with injuries sustained in the crash.

Trooper Rick Hewitt arrived on scene and spoke with Bell.

Bell lied to Trp. Hewitt about how he sustained his injuries and did not initially tell officers that he had been in a crash or that Reed was deceased inside the vehicle.

After determining that Bell had been reported to be a missing person along with Reed, Trp. Hewitt soon located the vehicle and Reed.

During the course of the investigation, it was determined that Bell was driving on a suspended driver’s license at the time of the crash.

Bell was hospitalized in an Indianapolis area hospital for treatment of his injuries after the incident until being released earlier this week.

Earlier this week, the investigation was turned over to the Jennings County Prosecutor’s Office for review.  As a result, a warrant was issued for Bell on charges of:

• Driving While Suspended Causing Death, Level 5 Felony
• Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Crash, Level 5 Felony
• Failure to Report a Dead Body, Class A Misdemeanor
• Driving While Suspended, Class A Misdemeanor
• False Informing, Class B Misdemeanor

Bell has not been re-located or arrested at this time.

An autopsy was completed on Reed last week.  The results preliminarily confirmed that Reed’s fatal injuries were sustained in the initial collision.  No foul play is suspected in her death at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

One teenager is in jail after making threats on a fake Instagram account against Silver Creek Middle School.

His arrest comes within 12 hours of the original social media postings.

Police say the teen admitted he was behind the threat and did it as a joke.

“I’m coming for you Silver Creek, I can’t wait, I’m tired of your ****,” Sellersburg Police Chief Russ Whelan said of the threat. “It had some pictures of guns and bullets and things of that nature.”The 14-year-old is being held at the juvenile detention center in Clark County.

“He said he thought it’d be funny and it was a joke,” said Whelan. “I’m sure that he doesn’t think it’s funny now. We don’t believe this is connected to other incidents.”

The teen is charged with intimidation and identity theft and deception, for using another student’s name on the post.

Whelan said the suspect used a picture and name of a classmate at Silver Creek Middle School to throw everyone off.

“He actually created a dummy account,” noted Whelan. “He just happened to have …they were friends at one time…so he happened to have photos of the other boy. He decided to create it and thought others will get their kicks out of it.”

Officers worked quickly to track down the actual 14-year-old boy who made the post. “He came clean and said, you know, I did it,” said Whelan.

“Investigators are still doing a few more interviews,” Whelan said. “We want to make sure there are no others involved. We had a little bit of luck and lot of lot of good investigative work from my guys. We get a threat last night at 8p and get an arrest about 12 hours later. Makes me feel good from our side.”

It has been a frightening week, with some JCPS as well as Jeffersonville schools and Salem Community Schools all on heightened alert after threatening clown posts which turned out to be a hoax.

Now that a teen is in jail, police hope it sends a clear message. “You’re gonna go to jail. We’re going to catch you, you’re gonna go to jail, and there’s going to be some severe and harsh punishment to go with this,” said Whelan.

Police do not believe he is linked to any of the other social media threats.

Less than 48 hours after a threat was made against the Salem Middle School and its students and staff, Salem Police Department has identified a Person of Interest.

Police have declined to identify the person, who they said currently lives in another law enforcement jurisdiction.

“We have made contact with the proper law enforcement agency,” said Assistant Salem Police Chief Tim Miller. “They have been briefed on the incident and are currently addressing it.”

The Salem Police Department conducted numerous interviews today.

Miller said, “The results of these interviews has given us a person of interest. At this point, we are at the mercy of the other agency, and are waiting to hear back from them after they conduct an interview.”

Miller said the other agency did advise the Salem Police Department that they have, recently, been having similar “clown threats”.

A school threat was made lasts night against Silver Creek Middle School and a teen was arrested this morning in connection with that.

However, Sellerburg Police Chief Russ Whelan told WSLM earlier this afternoon that he believes his is an isolated case and had nothing to do with Clowns. (See related story at wslmradio.com)

Additional threats were made against two schools in Louisville and schools in Jeffersonville this week.

Salem Police responded to a two vehicle accident this morning on State Road 60 East, sending three to the hospital.

911 was called at 11:17a after a 2009 Toyota Matrix turned into the path of a 2016 Hyundai Sonnata.

Larry King, 78, Salem was driving the Toyota and had stopped on 60 and was waiting to turn left onto Old State Road 60.

Jessica Tipton, 33, Pekin, was driving the Hyundai into Salem when King turned into her path.

Tipton continued East and hit the Cowboy’s Convenient Store sign and tore the left side pole loose from the foundation. The car also struck a telephone pole.

Both vehicles were a total loss, according to Salem Police Officer Eric Mills.

Tipton, Cheryl McMahan, 34, Salem and Tipton’s 4 year old daughter, who was restrained in car seat, were taken to St. Vincent Salem hospital where they were treated and released.

Assisting in the accident were the Salem Police Department and Washington County EMS.

A twisted form of Trick or Treat seems to have come early to the Kentuckiana area as well as many other states around the country in the form of scary clown pictures being posted online.

What started as a prank has mushroomed into a serious threat of violence against local schools in Washington County.

The situation is no joke to the police, especially over the last 24 hours.

According to the Salem Police Department, a threat was reported to a local officer Tuesday after 7p.  Police began investigating and by 10p, Salem Schools had sent out an automated message to parents and staff regarding “heightened” security in place for Wednesday.

Police have come to the conclusion that the “threat” was a hoax, but still are looking for the person or persons who started all this.

“It’s the ‘in’ thing to do now, to take pictures of scary clowns and post them on social media,” said Salem Police Major Detective Scott Ratts.

According to Ratts, things actually got started locally a few weeks ago after a man who wanted to scare his aunt, purchased a cheap mask from a department store and posed for a picture near the Bradie M. Shrum Elementary School sign. He later posted that picture on her social media page.

Someone with the screen name of Anonymous The Klown started as a general threat that has morphed into a threat against Salem Middle School.

“Anonymous took that picture from a social media site, started his or her own account called Anonymous the Klown,” Ratts said. “This person started friending others on social media and soon the chatter turned evil. And Anonymous is using this picture;  unknown to the person who tried to scare his aunt.”

Police have contacted officials at Instagram to enlist their help on tracing the origin of the account and the contact information for who it is registered to.

“The guy sees the picture and sees it associated with this Anonymous the Klown,” said Ratts. “He comes in to the police station last night and says, hey, that’s my picture on there, but I didn’t make any threats.”

Ratts said Anonymous has stolen other pictures of other clowns and using it for evil purposes on the Instagram page.

This is where the story gets confusing because the original threat was vague and did not detail any school in the area.

Ratts said the original threat read: “I hope the clowns go to the school and kill everyone.”

The threat doesn’t mention any school by name in Salem or Washington County.

“Then people posting messages around social media begin making threats against Salem and Springs Valley,” said Ratts. “In the meantime there are clown pictures that have popped up in Jeffersonville and in other counties. Not the same one that has popped up in Washington County.”

When asked if the person who posted the original clown picture with Bradie M. Shrum School in the background was dangerous, Ratts answered: “Absolutely not. I do not think he will cause any harm in Washington County. His picture was ripped off. I think when the dust settles, it’s going to be multiple people. With the current trend of using clowns to scare people, I don’t think it’s one kid pranking all of Southern Indiana.”

Ratts said Salem Police began interviewing students about the incident and who Anonymous The Klown is.

“We talk to one and they say it could be this one, and we talk to that one and they say it could be someone else…it’s a big circle,” Ratts said.

“First and foremost this is serious,” said Ratts. “When you threaten someone’s life it’s a terroristic threat.”

He said this is a Felony and penalties involved for a terrorist threat typically include jail time.

Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor offense for making a terrorist or criminal threat faces up to one year in a county jail.

For a felony conviction, a court can impose a prison sentence of a year or more.

THE THREAT IS EVER-CHANGING

Ratts explained that the threat has changed over the past 24 hours and continues to evolve.

“On this Anonymous The Klown Instagram page, somebody posted, bring it on clowns….I hope I see one, I’ll chase them. Another person said, I hope he hits Springs Valley,” noted Ratts.”

At one time, Ratts said, the Anonymous the Klown page was linked to a young lady at SMS. The link has since been removed.

“We were interviewing her and her father today and things were being posted while we were sitting there in front of her, so we know it’s not her,” he said.

“Anonymous has posted other pictures of other clown pictures — not just the guy from Bradie M Shrum. It’s turned into all this,” said Ratts.

Ratts said there was another user that turned up in the investigation – CLOWN POP UP.  In fact, four accounts have been discovered so far.

Assistant Police Chief Tim Miller noted this afternoon that increased security will be in place at all three Salem schools this week or until someone is found to be responsible.

“This will be the safest week ever,” said Ratts. “We’re taking it very seriously. And I’m extremely impressed with the school system. I feel very confident with the personnel we have stationed at the schools and with the job they’re doing.”

Other accounts in other counties are being tracked, said Ratts.

According to a Jefferson County Public School spokesperson, a potential threat was made on social media today regarding Farnsley Middle School and Moore High School. The photos on social media  featured clowns.

JCPS believes the threats were hoaxes, but the district is taking the situation very seriously. As a precaution, both schools will be operating on heightened security for the remainder of the day.

A JCPS spokesperson said in both cases they believe they know who is behind the threats. Louisville Police is handling the threats at Moore, and the threats at Farnsley are being handled by the school.

Because the investigation is ongoing, the nature of the threats and the content of the messages have not been released.

Other threats were made on Tuesday evening to school districts in Clarksville and Jeffersonville.