Billy Ridenour

On a quiet Friday night in November 2018, a domestic dispute turned fatal inside a rural home roughly five miles west of New Market, Indiana. Billy J. Ridenour, a 61-year-old male, was involved in an argument with his wife, Sheila L. Ridenour, while the couple was drinking in their garage. The altercation escalated physically, with Sheila later testifying that Billy had struck her multiple times. Following the confrontation, she entered the residence where she found her husband resting on a couch. She retrieved a. 22-caliber revolver from a bedroom and fired multiple shots at him. One bullet struck him in the ear, another in the back as he attempted to move, and a final fatal shot was delivered to his chin.

Instead of immediately contacting emergency services, Sheila Ridenour remained in the home with the body for the entire weekend. It was not until the early morning hours of the following Monday that she dialed 911 to report the incident. When deputies from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office arrived at the property in the 5700 block of West County Road 700 South, they discovered Billy deceased under a blanket in the living room. Investigators noted that the scene had been altered, with the body moved to allow the front door to close. Sheila was taken into custody at the scene without incident, appearing in her booking photo with visible bruising on her face which she attributed to the earlier physical struggle.

Sheila Ridenour was initially arrested and charged with murder and failure to report a dead body. During the legal proceedings, her defense team argued that she suffered from 'battered woman syndrome' due to past abuse in previous relationships, although prosecutors noted this was the first reported incidence of violence between her and Billy. In March 2020, she accepted a plea agreement in Montgomery Circuit Court, pleading guilty to a Level 2 felony count of voluntary manslaughter. Consequently, the murder charge was dismissed. Later that year, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison, receiving a 20-year term for the manslaughter conviction and an additional 10-year enhancement for the use of a firearm in the commission of the crime.