Justice for 'Bizzy': Spencer man found guilty of murder and obstruction of justice
A 39-year-old Spencer man was convicted April 24th in connection with the September 14, 2021 death of Elizabeth “Bizzy” Stevens.
An Owen County jury returned verdicts finding Jay White guilty of murder and obstruction of justice, concluding a seven-day jury trial. Special Judge Darcie Fawcett, of Monroe County, entered a judgment of conviction based on the jury’s verdict.
Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim and Deputy Prosecutor Robert Garrett represented the State of Indiana at the trial, where White was accused of shooting Stevens, 26, also of Spencer, while they were both passengers in a vehicle.
“There was a passerby who found a dead body on Texas Pike and called it in [to Owen County Security Center Dispatch],” Owen County Sheriff Ryan White told The Owen News. “When our units arrived, they found who they later identified as Elizabeth Stevens deceased due to extreme head trauma.”
An autopsy conducted the following day in Terre Haute determined Stevens succumbed to a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Sheriff White recalled how his department received a phone call the day after the shooting from an individual who said he wanted to talk to the police.
“Tyler Byers expressed that they were driving in his pickup truck [a Dodge Ram] and he was driving,” Sheriff White said, detailing the conversation authorities had with Byers. “Jay White was the front seat passenger and Elizabeth Stevens was the backseat passenger, behind the driver. Jay White had an AR-15 [rifle] and turned around and shot Elizabeth Stevens in the head. They [then] stopped the truck on Texas Pike and [Byers] says [he] opened the back door and her body fell out.”
Byers and Jay White reportedly drove away from the scene, leaving Stevens’ body lying in the roadway where it would be discovered by a passerby around 9:30 p.m.
The ensuing investigation conducted by OCSD Deputy Mitchell Fleetwood and Detective Brandon Gasparovic led authorities to determine the pair went back to Jay White’s house, where he allegedly started to spray out Byers’ truck after he took his gun inside.
“It was Jay’s AR-15. When we [obtained] a search warrant for Jay’s property, we found brain matter and blood in the driveway, along with a casing from a 223 round, which is consistent with an AR,” Sheriff White explained. “We did a search of the residence – we did not find the rifle. The rifle was actually given to us by Jay’s wife a week later.”
The sheriff's department reached out to the Morgan County Major Crimes Task Force during the initial stages of the investigation to provide assistance.
“They sent a couple of detectives and an evidence tech to help recreate the scene with some sophisticated photographic equipment that we do not have,” Sheriff White said. “They also helped to conduct a search of the truck after [Byers] had told police where the truck was located.”
After Jay White’s AR-15 was given to police, it was tested for DNA at the Indiana State Police forensic laboratory, with Sheriff White explaining that the results showed only Stevens’ and White’s DNA being found on the rifle.
During the course of the investigation, authorities say Jay White gave conflicting stories of what happened that night, none of which were found to be credible. He also reportedly failed a lie detector test he agreed to take after being charged with killing Stevens.
“The lab also tested blood and tissue that was recovered from the truck and the driveway of Jay White,” Sheriff White said. “All of that came back to Elizabeth Stevens. So, we know she was killed in the truck. Jay’s first and second story that he told police was that they dropped her off [alive] at the Circle K in Spencer. We checked surveillance footage and found that was not true… His last story was that she committed suicide with his rifle.”
Jay White has remained incarcerated at the Owen County Security Center since his arrest on September 20, 2021 at the Indianapolis International Airport, after a trip to Arizona to attend a wedding.
“They did do a bond hearing to see if he was going to be eligible for a bond earlier in 2024,” Sheriff White recalled, “and his bond was denied.”
A sentencing hearing for Jay White is slated for Thursday, May 23 at 8 a.m. in the Owen Circuit Court. He faces a prison sentence of 45 to 65 years for murder and two years on the charge of obstruction of justice.
“When multiple agencies work together for the same common goal, justice gets served,” Sheriff White said. “When we try to do things alone or when we try to live on an island, I think the citizens are the ones who get the short straw when we do that. We must work together as law enforcement to achieve our goals, and that’s justice for the victims. You can't do it alone - no agency can work alone.”
