Prosecutors link Indiana judge's attempted murder to separate criminal case; 5 charged

LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Police in Indiana announced the arrests of five people in connection with the shooting of an Indiana state judge and his wife at their home earlier this week.

The attempted murder of Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Steven Meyer was all in order to gum up proceedings in a separate criminal case that was about to go to trial, according to prosecutors - one overseen by the same judge.

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The defendant in that separate case: one of the five people now charged with Meyer's attempted murder, according to court records.

In a news release posted to social media late Thursday night Lafayette police named five individuals from the city, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis, and Lexington, Kentucky, who face charges ranging from attempted murder to obstruction of justice.

According to the news release, Raylen Ferguson, 38, Thomas Moss, 43, Blake Smith, 32, Amanda Milsap, 45, and Zenada Greer, 61, were arrested in connection with the shooting.

Moss had already faced Meyer many times before in his courtroom in what had become a protracted case. That case, overseen by Meyer, stemmed from 2024 charges including unlawful possession of a firearm by a violent felon, shooting into a building and domestic battery with a deadly weapon.

Moss's trial in that unrelated case had been pushed back several times, according to court records, but Judge Meyer had recently rescheduled it - to begin the morning of Jan. 20.

Meyer and his wife, Kimberly Meyer, were shot on Jan. 18 - two days before 55 jurors were set to show up for voir dire, according to court records.

Meyer and his wife, Kimberly, were injured Sunday afternoon in the attack at their Lafayette home. Meyer suffered an injury to his arm and his wife an injury to her hip, according to authorities.

Meyer had also recently denied Moss's attempt to further postpone his trial.

When legal motions didn't slow the judicial wheel's grind - Moss and his alleged co-conspirators took matters into their own hands, prosecutors say: working together "in a concerted effort to impede the proceedings of Moss's jury trial which was scheduled for January 20, 2026," according to court documents.

Investigators point explicitly to Moss's other pending case with Meyer as motive for the attempted killing - and one that also links the other four people charged to the judge.

"There is no known nexus between [Raylen[ Ferguson, Judge Meyer, and Kimberly Meyer, and no known nexus between [Blake] Smith, Judge Meyer, and Kimberly Meyer, other than their associations and gang affiliations with Moss," the document said.

Moss and several of his alleged co-conspirators in the failed killing are also associated with an "outlaws" motorcycle club that touts its criminal activity, investigators say - identifying Moss as a "high-ranking member of the Indiana Chapter of the Phantom Motorcycle Club" with "prior gang activity."

In fact, it was Ferguson who actually pulled the trigger, according to detectives: after he approached under the guise of looking for his dog, Ferguson "fired multiple shots through the front door while Judge Meyer and Kimberly were inside of the residence with the door closed."

The Meyers told police a similar suspicious incident had happened just a couple days prior - when a man knocked on their door and said "he had a food delivery and Judge Meyer informed the male he had the wrong residence as they had not ordered food. Meyer did not open the door during this encounter and communicated with the male through the door," according to the probable cause affidavit.

Surveillance footage from their front door "showed a male approaching the residence holding the food and a 2-liter bottle of soda. The surveillance video footage captured the individual knocking on the door, and Affiant is aware the individual knocked on the door with the same distinct pattern/cadence as Ferguson when he approached the residence immediately before the shooting on January 18, 2026."

And in fact, the victim in Moss's other case - who was set to testify against him at trial - reached out to investigators upon hearing news of the shooting and "that the shooter may have worn a mask."

That alleged victim herself had experienced an eerily similar suspicious incident, she told police.

Eight days before Moss' trial was set to start, someone "wearing a mask, breathing heavily, and with a wobbly walk approached her residence and knocked on the door," the alleged victim said. "The individual knocked on the door and then ultimately left the residence," after "she and her husband did not answer the door nor respond to the individual in any way." Surveillance footage from the alleged victim's home showed someone wearing a mask and with a "distinct walk/gait" that was "consistent" with that of the person coming to Meyers' door days later.

In fact, the alleged posse even tried to stop that victim from being a witness in Moss's upcoming trial.

In the month leading up to the attempted murder - and Moss's scheduled trial - Milsap, one of the five charged, tried to bribe that victim into not testifying and "absent herself from the proceeding," prosecutors say.

The five charged in Meyer's shooting will now have to go before another judge as their case moves forward.

Ferguson, Moss and Smith each face at least nine felony charges, including attempted murder, according to court records. Milsap faces charges of bribery and obstruction of justice and Zenada faces charges of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice. None of them had attorneys listed in public records as of Friday morning.

Moss and Milsap are being held in the Tippecanoe County jail in Indiana and Greer at the Fayette County Detention Center in Kentucky.

Prosecutors have already requested exorbitantly high bonds be set.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.