Southern Indiana Man Sentenced in 1982 Cold Case Homicide

A Jackson County man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of a Seymour man in 1982.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Richard Poynter sentenced Ronald J. Anderson, now 63, on Monday.

On October 31, 2023, exactly 41 years to the date of the murder, Anderson was arrested and held in the Jackson County Jail. He then pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter with the murder charge dismissed on April 4, 2025.

In December 1982, the body of Clifford Smith, age 24, was found by trappers along the White River, north of Seymour. Investigators had determined that Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Indiana State Police Detectives started on the homicide investigation before it was passed onto Sgt. Kip Main of the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post in September of 2015. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Seymour Police Department also assisted in the investigation.

Sgt. Main determined in his investigation that Anderson and Smith were together at a residence on East 13th Street in the late hours of October 30th, 1982. The two then left the residence in a vehicle with Anderson in possession of a loaded shotgun. Smith was not seen alive after that night.

Deputy Prosecutors Mark Hollingsworth and Daniel Carnes handled the prosecution for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. They said they were satisfied with the sentencing handed down by Judge Poynter.

“I want to commend the Indiana State Police Investigators for their dedication to this case over the last forty plus years in an effort to bring justice and some sort of closure to Clifford Smith’s family,” Hollingsworth stated. “We are pleased that in this case, justice delayed was not justice denied.”