Indiana woman reported missing after 'suspicious' fire in her house: Sheriff's office

Posted By: Staff
October 8, 2025 @ 12:01 pm
ABC National

Britney Gard is seen in an undated photo released by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office

(PUTNAM COUNTY, Ind.) — An Indiana woman was reported missing last week following a “suspicious” fire in her house, authorities said.

Britney Gard, 46, last had contact with her family the evening of Sept. 30, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. She is considered a missing endangered person “due to her unknown whereabouts,” the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities responded to her home on Oct. 1, following a 911 call for a fire at her home in Bainbridge, located about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, the sheriff’s office said. Smoke was reported coming from the residence around 7:40 p.m., the office said.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze, which investigators believe is “suspicious in nature,” Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said in a statement on Friday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Baugh said in an update on Wednesday.

No one was found in the fire-damaged home, and attempts by family and friends to contact Gard following the fire have been unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office said. She was not located following a drone-assisted search of the area and searches of a pond on the property following the fire, the sheriff’s office said.

Gard was supposed to attend her daughter’s volleyball game on Oct. 1, but did not show up, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV.

“Her car’s at home, her purse is at home. She’s nowhere to be found, and the house is on fire. It makes no sense,” Bowen told WRTV.

“I just feel like there’s something here bigger that we don’t know,” she said.

The search continued this week for the mother of two, with dozens of people, including her sisters, looking through cornfields and wooded areas near Gard’s property on Monday, WRTV reported.

Drones have continued to be deployed in the area, and conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have been conducting searches of the ponds at the residence and in the surrounding area, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

Detectives have also been working with the FBI and Indiana State Police, “looking for any leads into the current and past locations of any and all devices that could lead investigators to the location of Britney Gard,” Baugh said Wednesday.

Baugh asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact the sheriff’s office.

“As this is an active investigation and the location of missing Putnam County resident Britney Gard remains unknown, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will not be releasing detailed information about the scene, the ongoing investigation, or any speculation as to the whereabouts or condition of Ms. Gard,” Baugh said Wednesday.

Bowen urged people to be “vigilant” and to check their home security cameras.

“Britney, we love you,” she told WRTV. “We hope to see you safely return home.”