Columbus father sentenced for death of 2-year-old daughter

COLUMBUS — A father accused of negligence in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, whose body was found in a Bartholomew County river in 2021, has been sentenced to spend four decades behind bars.

Jeremy Sweet, of Columbus, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in Bartholomew Superior Court to neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a felony, in connection with the death of his daughter, Emma Sweet.

Jeremy Sweet was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Indiana Department of Corrections for neglect, and an additional 10 years due to his criminal history, which largely involved drug offenses.

The father and daughter were reported missing on Thanksgiving Day in 2021. A day later, duck hunters found Jeremy Sweet inside his partially submerged pickup truck in the White River. Emma remains missing, sparking a search that has drawn investigators from 14 law enforcement agencies.

Sweet was taken to a Columbus hospital to be treated for hypothermia and frostbite. Sheriff's deputies learned the child was with his father when the van entered the water.

Emma's body was found three days later, about 2.5 miles downstream from where duck hunters found her father. The Bartholomew County Coroner's Office ruled his death a homicide, specifically “complications of hypothermia and asphyxia due to drowning.”