Valarie Anne Ruark

In the spring of 2019, the life of 32-year-old Valarie Anne Ruark was tragically cut short in what would become a grim and unsettling homicide investigation. A female resident of Boonville, Indiana, her badly burned remains were discovered on April 26, 2019, in a rural area of northeastern Warrick County, near the intersection of Seven Hills Road and Wasson Road. The condition of her body made immediate identification difficult, but tips from the public, including information about a distinctive orange and black frog tattoo on her foot, helped authorities confirm her identity. The investigation was swiftly treated as a homicide.

The subsequent investigation led by the Warrick County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from multiple other law enforcement agencies, soon focused on two men: 24-year-old Anthony Clay Wolfe II of Evansville and 43-year-old Brian Baumgartner, also of Evansville. Both men were arrested and preliminarily charged with her murder. According to investigators, the motive behind the brutal slaying was Wolfe's belief that Ruark was a police informant. It was alleged that Wolfe fatally shot Ruark near a barn in Boonville.

The legal proceedings that followed painted a clearer picture of the events leading to Ruark's death. Brian Baumgartner was accused of aiding or inducing the murder. Court documents revealed that in April 2019, Ruark was involved in selling methamphetamine. A third individual, 36-year-old Ivory Baumgartner, was later charged with conspiracy to commit murder, assisting a criminal, and obstruction of justice in connection to the case. Ultimately, Anthony Wolfe Jr. was found guilty of murder, abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice for his role in the death of Valarie Anne Ruark.