The body of Thomas Haskins was a day away from being cremated – and his closest kin didn’t even know he was dead.Prosecutors have accused a Fort Wayne man of sexually abusing a girl from when she was a fourth-grader until she was about to graduate high school.
Jeffrey Buzzard, 43, was charged Tuesday with five counts of child molesting and five counts of child seduction.
On Dec. 27, 2011, city police went to a hospital in response to a report of child neglect, and the victim told authorities Buzzard had sexually abused her for several years, according to court papers.
The victim told police that Buzzard started molesting her when she was in fourth grade and that he began having sex with her when she was in sixth grade. She said this continued until June 2011 when she was 18 years old, according to court papers.
She told police that when she informed Buzzard she was thinking of reporting the abuse, he threatened to kill himself, court papers said. In an interview with police, Buzzard denied having any sexual contact with the victim.
Buzzard, of the 100 block of Nordale Drive, was being held Tuesday at the Allen County Lockup in lieu of $145,000 bail.
