EVANSVILLE — Prosecutors charged an Evansville man with murder on Friday for the 2022 killing of 57-year-old Patrick White, reigniting a case that was previously dropped after a key witness failed to come forward.
The accused, 35-year-old Michael Logan Thomas, was already being held at the Vanderburgh County jail in connection with a battery case when a judge issued a warrant for his arrest last week, a sheriff’s office official said.
During Thomas’ initial hearing in Vanderburgh County Circuit Court, Magistrate Celia Pauli entered a preliminary plea of not guilty on his behalf, according to the docket in Thomas’ case. The court appointed a public defender to serve as Thomas’ legal counsel.
The move to charge Thomas comes after a judge dismissed prosecutors’ first case against Thomas in July 2023 when a woman, identified by police as Thomas’ former girlfriend, failed to testify against him. Thomas is alleged to have confessed to the woman that he shot and killed White, according to court records.