The Timber Lake Murder: Who Killed Arthur Denton? In this episode, we look into the August 1991 murder of Arthur Denton, a case out of Posey County, Indiana, that has sat cold for decades. Arthur was a respected figure in the local legal community. He was a 78-year-old retired attorney, former state legislator, and three-time deputy prosecutor for Vanderburgh County. For fifty years, he lived a remarkably predictable life, but everything shifted rapidly after his first wife passed away. Within three months, Arthur remarried Wilma "Doodle" Scales, a woman nearly forty years his junior whom he met while she worked as a housekeeper. He sold his longtime home, moved her to a gated property on Timber Lake, and eventually revised his will to leave her his entire estate. Just seven months later, he was dead. The details surrounding that night depend almost entirely on Wilma's account. She told police that while she was in the basement around midnight, a masked intruder bound her to a chair with duct tape while others went upstairs. She claimed she sat in the dark for nearly two hours before freeing one arm to dial 911. When officers arrived, they found Arthur beaten and stabbed to death on the main floor. Wilma reported that $12,000 in cash was missing, though Arthur's closest friends insisted he was a Depression-era saver who never kept large sums of money sitting around the house. As investigators dug in, several strange details began to stack up. Four guard dogs on the property never barked that night. A suspected forged check for $15,000 turned up in Wilma's glove box, though a judge later ruled she could not be forced to provide handwriting samples. To make matters stranger, Wilma's brother died of an overdose less than a month after the murder, and two reported break-ins occurred at the house shortly after Arthur's death. A grand jury was eventually convened, but no one was ever indicted. Wilma eventually inherited the estate, remarried, and passed away in 2014, taking whatever details she had to her grave. Because Arthur had no children to push for answers, the case quietly faded into the background. Listen in as we break down the timeline, unpack the red flags, and try to bring some long-overdue attention to a man who spent his career fighting for justice. If you have thoughts or remember hearing anything about this case back in the day, head over to the Discord server and join the conversation. Join the River City Mystery Discord server to meet others from the tri-state area who are into true crime and the paranormal. https://www.rivercitymystery.com/discord
