On Jan. 5, 17 year old Hailey Buzbee went missing. Buzbee was a junior at Hamilton South Eastern High School in Fishers, Indiana and the director of news for HSETV.
Often, when people read about incidents like kidnappings, they read the information without fully processing or connecting to the tragedy. Despite this, Buzbee was a human being who had a loving family and friends in high school.
“I want people to remember Hailey as kind to everyone and a passionate friend that would do anything to go out of her way to help those in need,” HSE junior, and friend of Buzbee, Savannah Wright said.
On Jan. 31, 2026, authorities announced that they believed her to be deceased and arrested 39 year old Tyler Thomas in connection to Buzbee’s disappearance. Her remains were eventually found in Perry County, Ohio after Thomas led authorities to the spot.
“It’s pretty scary because it’s something you usually only see on the news and for it to happen so close, and I had friends who knew her, it’s so much scarier,” North Central junior Joselyn Froke said.
Buzbee is more than just a name in the news. She lived a life a mere 12 miles away and impacted so many of those around her.
“She loved the color pink, reading, ‘’It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,’ ramen, Mitski, singing along to old 2000s music at the top of our lungs in the car,” Wright said.
HSE High School and the community of Fishers have been impacted by the loss of Buzbee..
“At school, we have social workers that came in with therapy dogs to talk to people,” Wright said. “At my job at Urban Air, we have started wearing pink bows and bringing ribbons to wear in our hair and tie to our shirts,” Wright said.
Buzbee and Thomas were said to have met online through a gaming platform and continued to message on an app called Sessions.
On Feb. 10, Thomas was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and traveling in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Buzbee’s parents are wanting to pass a new law called the Hailey Law. The law would create a new alert, like the Amber Alert and Silver Alert, called the Pink Alert. Its goal is to alert for children that go missing that don’t follow the guidelines of other alerts. The law would also require schools to teach their students about online danger.
“Make sure you stay with friends and know the person you are talking to,” sophomore Jack Dukanych said.
Buzbee was not alone. Statistics say that more than 50% of teens meet online and become friends. Because of Buzbee’s story, some teens have started going through their social media and unfollowing people who they do not personally know.
“I’ve had friends talk to me about how they’ve like, went through their Snapchat friends lists and really looked at them and realized ‘I don’t really know this person in real life’ and unadded them,” Wright said. “People have also made their Instagram and Tiktok accounts private.”
Buzbee’s funeral was held Thursday February 12 at Fisher’s ITown church. Buzbee’s family invited everyone from the community to celebrate her life. Attendees were encouraged to wear pink, Hailey’s favorite color.
