Indiana State Police: 1977 cold case curder closed

ADAMS CO., Ind. (ADAMS) – Indiana State Police say a cold case murder in Adams County is now solved and closed.

84-year-old Everett Armstrong was found shot to death in his home in 1977. Indiana State Police reopened the case in 2013 and identified James A. McBride II as a suspect.

McBride died last year, but the Adams County prosecutor says if he were alive, he would be charged with Armstrong’s murder.

Indiana State Police with the Fort Wayne Post released the following:

On August 19, 1977, at approximately 4:00 pm 84-year-old Everett Armstrong from rural Geneva Indiana was found deceased in his mobile home on CR 300 west just north of State Road 116 in Adams County. He was found by the fuel oil delivery driver. His death was ruled a murder due to a gunshot wound. The Indiana State Police and Adams County Sheriff’s Department investigated the murder. Everett Armstrong was a World War I veteran and well-known local banjo player.

The initial investigation found witnesses that heard a single gunshot just before dark on August 18, 1977. The initial investigation did not identify any suspects however 4 witnesses came forward in October of 1977 identifying a potential suspect.

The case went cold for 3 years until 1981 when 3 individuals were arrested in the case by the Adams County Sheriff’s Department. The initial arrests were made however 6 months after their arrest charges dropped, as it became very clear the 3 suspects had nothing to do with the Murder. The case went cold for decades.

In 2013 the Indiana State Police reopened the case and over the next few years were able to corroborate the initial information that came in in October of 1977. That information entailed 4 individuals who James A McBride II had confessed to within 24 hours of the crime and one witness who McBride showed the gun used in the crime. Those witnesses described extremely erratic behavior immediately after the crime. McBride gave several very specific details of the crime to each of those 4 witnesses and his details matched the evidence found at the crime scene. Only the suspect and law enforcement would have known these details. McBride’s confession to friends also came prior to an August 20, 1977, Bluffton Banner newspaper article detailing the crime.

James McBride II passed away June 3, 2024, in Adams County Indiana. He was born in Decatur Indiana in 1954.

In 2025 the Indiana State Police Cold Case Team met with Adams County Prosecutor Jeremy Brown and presented the evidence to him. Overwhelmingly the circumstantial evidence showed that James A. McBride II committed the murder of Everett Armstrong in 1977. The Adams County Prosecutor indicates that if James McBride II was still alive, he would have been charged with the Murder of Everett Armstrong.

The investigation which spanned 48 years involved The Indiana State Police, The Adams County Sheriff’s Department, Adams County Coroners office and the Adams County Prosecutors office.

Top picture – Everett Armstrong

Bottom picture – James McBride II