INDIANAPOLIS — A jury convicted Jeremy Farmer on Wednesday in the 2019 murder of his father, Roger "Fred" Farmer.
Sentencing is set for Friday, April 28.
Police discovered Roger's body after workers at the Ameri-Stor Self Storage reported smelling an odor. He had been missing since Nov. 22, 2019, when he was last seen at his home on the west side of Indianapolis.
In 2021, Jeremy was arrested and charged with murder.
Jeremy's sisters helped police get enough evidence to arrest him. They said they got suspicious when their father didn't show up for Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations in 2019. They also believed Jeremy was sending messages from their father's phone.
Jeremy was living at his father's home at the time of Fred's disappearance.
In court on Wednesday, Jeremy said Fred let him move in because Jeremy was living in a hotel room. Jeremy said he and his father were starting up a landscaping business, and that he had an opioid problem and was committing fraud.
Jeremy testified that he and his dad bought a truck on Fred's credit card and Jeremy was supposed to be making payments. Jeremy said when his check bounced, Fred demanded money. He said Fred was taking drugs and drinking alcohol when the two of them got in a fight.
Jeremy said his father threatened to take the truck away, so he threatened he would turn Fred over to police for his drug use.
Jeremy claimed his father pulled a gun and said, "I should have done this a long time ago." Jeremy said the two then struggled over the gun and Fred was shot.
"I panicked. I didn't know what to do," Jeremy testified.
Jeremy said he took off for a couple days and then came back to Fred's home. Police said he was captured on video using his father's debit card at a Lowe’s store on Nov. 18, 2019. He purchased heavy duty cleaning wipes, Febreze, a 96-gallon trash can, germicidal bleach, a Duracell flashlight, Venom brand latex gloves, extra heavy plastic drop cloths and Tide detergent pods.
Court records also showed Fred's bank account was emptied and credit cards were used after his disappearance, and Jeremy changed his father's account contact information to his own email.
According to IMPD, Jeremy Farmer rented the unit in November 2019.
"Once I started, I had to continue," Fred testified on why he kept telling more lies and creating more deceptions about what happened to his father.
During cross-examination, Jeremy said he didn't even remember what day his dad died.
"You didn't want to bury your dad's body right away, so you packed him up in a trash can and let his body decompose for over 500 days?" the prosecution asked.
"I wouldn't put it that way," Jeremy responded.
Jeremy admitted he sent phony texts from Fred's phone to his phone to make it appear Fred was on a hunting trip.
Jeremy admitting going out with family to search for his father when he knew where Fred's body was located.
Jeremy claims he checked into St. Vincent Stress Center after his father's death to receive addiction treatment.
Jeremy said his father used to abuse him when he was a child, and he thought about that the night Fred died because he said he knew his father's intention was to hurt him.