PLAINFIELD — A Johnson County deputy who was in training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy was found dead Tuesday morning.
Academy recruits found Tim Guyer, a 49-year-old resident of Trafalgar, unresponsive in his dormitory room at the academy in Plainfield after he did not report to breakfast Tuesday morning. Recruits gave life-saving measures to him, and medics later pronounced him dead at the academy, ILEA executive director Tim Horty said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
The ILEA has suspended classes for the rest of the day Tuesday, and will have grief counselors available for recruits, Horty said.
Guyer leaves behind a wife and four children, said Major Andy Fisher, road division commander of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. Fisher was representing Sheriff Duane Burgess, who was spending time with Guyer’s family.
“We are heartbroken beyond words,” Fisher said.
The Indiana State Police is investigating Guyer’s death. There are a lot of questions right now, but the death appears to be from a medical issue of some kind, said Sgt. John Perrine, an ISP spokesperson.
There is no foul play suspected and there was not an accident involved. ISP investigators are now working closely with the Hendrick’s County Coroner’s Office to determine his cause of death, Perrine said.
A lifelong Johnson County resident and businessman, Guyer was also a building inspector for several towns in Johnson County and owned a construction company.
Guyer was sworn in as a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office recruit in December 2022. He was set to graduate from the academy two weeks from now and join the sheriff’s office as a merit deputy, Fisher said.
Guyer was close friends with several other deputies, and they helped him guide his way through the application process and his ultimate hiring, Fisher said.
Fisher recalled some of his past interactions with Guyer, who was very faith-based and a family man. He was at the academy to fulfill a dream of his, Fisher said.
“This is a sad day, but Tim was also doing what he exactly what he wanted to do, and that was trying to fulfill the dream and being a deputy for us,” he said.
The deputy’s death marks the second time a law enforcement officer from Johnson County has died in the past two months. ISP Trooper Aaron Smith, of Franklin, was killed on June 28 in Plainfield while trying to deploy stop sticks in the pursuit of a stolen vehicle.
