JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — The man accused of murdering his girlfriend in 2022 in Henryville, Indiana, is seeking to unseal a file involving a potential alternate suspect less than a month before his trial.
Derek Pixley was arrested in May 2025 in connection with the killing of Brittney Boman, who was shot in the neck in a wooded area off Brownstown Road on Oct. 2, 2022. Boman survived for two months after the shooting but died from her injuries on Dec. 30, 2022.
Indiana State Police Detective Matt Busick said on May 13, 2025, “We had actually looked at some other people, too, and discounted them. And just there wasn’t any way anybody other than Derek Pixley.”
Pixley’s attorney, Sunnye Bush-Sawtelle, argued Thursday that Indiana State Police and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office failed to properly consider at least one suspect in the years following Boman’s death. She raised those concerns during hearings on two defense motions.
One motion seeks to unseal the confidential informant file of a former sheriff’s office informant. Pixley’s attorney said the man changed his account multiple times about where he was on Oct. 2, 2022, and at one point placed himself near the crime scene around the time Boman was shot.
Although the man was identified in court Thursday, WHAS11 is not naming him because he has not been charged and a decision has not yet been made on whether his file will be unsealed.
Bush-Sawtelle called several Clark County Sheriff’s Office employees to testify Thursday who either worked on the Boman case or supervised the investigation. Those witnesses included Officer AJ Vissing, Detective Wes Harper, Detective Josh Banet, and Major Erik Elliott.
Multiple witnesses confirmed that the former confidential informant was considered a person of interest, was interviewed several times, and did change his story at least once.
Judge Nicholas Karaffa did not issue a ruling Thursday on the motion to unseal the file, saying he will release a written order by next Thursday. Deputy Prosecutor Brennen Goodin declined to comment after court on the defense’s motion.
The final pretrial conference is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 10. Jury selection is set to begin on March 3.
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