'Nobody dies in their sleep and looks like that;' family wants justice for prison homicide

Plainfield, Ind. --Three times the presumed killer went in and out of the prison cell.

The first time he left with a Little Debbie snack cake; the second time, a 12-pack of Mountain Dew.

Jeffery Clouser, 60, was killed at Plainfield Correctional Facility a year ago. The family wants to know who did it.

The third and final time, the as-yet-unidentified suspect walked out with the inmate’s tennis shoes, his pillow and blanket.

Inmate Jeffery Clouser, 60, was found hours later with his face smashed in so badly, it's hard to imagine anyone surviving such an attack.

The disabled Clouser came to Plainfield Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in Plainfield, southwest of Indianapolis in a wheelchair. 

Clouser had only been on the cell block a few hours before his death, spending the first week and a half in the prison's medical unit, his daughter, Justine Young, told The Probable Cause. He depended on a wheelchair to get around.

Surveillance cameras show some inmates being kind to Clouser when he arrived around 3 p.m, gestures that Young finds comforting.

But, toward the midnight hour, “you can see the suspect telling other inmates to leave my dad’s area,” said Young who was able to view surveillance video after she told her detective she wanted to “see her dad’s last hours.”

The inmate who would’ve been Clouser’s cellmate “was probably told to clear out.”

Clouser was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, his family said.

“There’s only one suspect, one guy who entered my dad’s cell block on three different occasions,” Young said.

The last guard on the block appeared at 9 p.m.  The last time Young saw her father on the video was 11:11 p.m.

At 12:20 a.m., the suspect entered Clouser’s cell for the first time. Young said cell doors remain open at all times, unless there’s a lockdown. But he closed Clouser's cell door.

Three times the suspect entered, took what he wanted and exited. The door was kept shut, Young said. She said the suspect looked to be about 30 years old, decades younger than her vulnerable father.

Young believes the beating occurred at 12:20 a.m. which makes the date of his death July 4 a year ago. On the surveillance video, inmates are seen walking around at all hours of the night, she said.

Her father lay dead in his cell for 12 hours until an inmate peeked through the tiny cell door window the next day and, then, beckoned a guard.

Prison life is rough, and fights and beatings are a way of life, but Young and her siblings didn’t expect their wheelchair-bound father to be killed like this. 

“Nobody,” Young said, “dies in their sleep and looks like that.”

Now justice cannot come fast enough for Young and her siblings.

A post-mortem photo she shared with The Probable Cause shows her father's face with part of his forehead severely indented. It is the stuff of nightmares and too disturbing to publish in its actual form. 

The Hendricks County Coroner ruled that Clouser’s death was a homicide, due to blunt force trauma.

Since then Young has been pressing authorities to charge the man she knows deep in her heart killed her dad. He was the only one to enter and exit his room, she says.

The Probable Cause contacted both the Indiana State Police, the investigating agency, and the Hendricks County prosecutor, responsible for filing charges.

John Perrine, public information officer for the ISP’s Indianapolis district, said the work on the ISP’s end has been done.

“I just spoke with our detective. He has been in communication with the prosecutor’s office as recently as last week about this case. I am not sure of the status on the prosecutor’s side, however ISP has turned over our findings for their review,” Perrine wrote in an email response Monday.

As of Tuesday evening, The Probable Cause had not had a response from the Hendricks County prosecutor.

Clouser was in prison for an OWI - operating a vehicle while intoxicated - that resulted in striking an unattended vehicle, according to online court records. 

On April 12, 2024, he was sentenced to five years in prison by Boone County Superior Court Judge Bruce Petit, online records show.

The case wasn’t his first one. 

“My dad had an issue with alcohol and drugs,” Young said.

The numerous charges filed on January 27, 2023, included three Level 6 felonies, the lowest level in Indiana, and a range of misdemeanors, online court records show.

What Young can’t get out of her mind is that her father was approved for house arrest on Community Corrections.

“If my dad had gotten house arrest, he would still be alive,” she said.

Clouser was the kind of guy who loved NASCAR, Hot Wheels and Slot cars, according to his obituary. He also had a knack for rebuilding computers.

Born in Lebanon, Indiana, he attended Western Boone High School and served in the U. S. Army.

He got married and divorced and was the father of four children.

He owned Action Muffler and Brake and J&J Muffler in Lebanon. He also owned Jeff’s Toy Box in Thorntown.

A member of the Life’s Journey Church, his family laid him to rest about a week after he was killed.

“My biggest issue is there needs to be changes to IDOC (Indiana Department of Correction.)

Inmates are struggling with drugs and alcohol. Why not put them in long-term treatment facilities?” Young asks.

Until that becomes a reality, Young will continue to fight for justice for her father.

“It’s been a really hard year,” Young said. “I want to know who killed my father and I don’t want to see other families put through the same thing our family has been put through.”