Allen man arraigned in granddaughter’s death

Published 6:00 am Sunday, October 18, 2026

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Bobby Meador

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Revelin Meador

SCOTTSVILLE — An Allen County man accused of causing the death of his granddaughter has made his first court appearance.

Bobby Wayne Meador, 70, of Fountain Run, was arraigned Wednesday in Allen District Court on a count of first-degree manslaughter.

Authorities are seeking to hold Meador criminally responsible for the death of 7-year-old Revelin Meador, who died Aug. 1, 2020, at the family’s home on Celsor Road.

Appearing over Zoom from Allen County Detention Center, Meador informed Allen District Judge Martha Harrison that he was unable to afford an attorney.

Harrison appointed a public defender to represent Meador, and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, with a preliminary hearing set for Oct. 21.

Meador was arrested Oct. 8, just days after the Allen County-Scottsville Crime Task Force announced it had reopened the investigation into Revelin’s death.

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An arrest warrant filed in the case details that Revelin was medically fragile, used an automated feeding tube and required around-the-clock care, and that she was in her grandfather’s custody.

A toxicology report showed fentanyl and cotinine in Revelin’s system, the warrant said.

Revelin’s cause of death was listed as acute fentanyl intoxication.

Cotinine is produced when nicotine is broken down in the body and is described in the warrant as the “main medical and biological biomarker for tobacco smoke exposure.”

Detective Robert Smith of the Scottsville Police Department was asked to review the investigation in August and was provided with pictures and video from the scene taken in 2020, the death certificate and the state medical examiner’s report.

Police learned that Revelin had not been prescribed fentanyl.

“The child would not have been able to consume or ingest anything on her own based on her medical condition,” Smith stated in the warrant. “The only way she could have ingested or consumed fentanyl was for someone to deliver or transfer skin to skin.”

Police learned that Meador had told others that his granddaughter’s death was due to her medical condition, and that his son showed him the toxicology report.

“When detectives spoke with Bobby Meador to inform him that this investigation was reopened, Bobby was apprehensive to provide answers to simple questions like who was in the home the night prior and the morning (Revelin) was located,” Smith stated in the warrant. “Bobby Meador informed detectives that he stopped giving the child her prescribed medicine and it appeared to give her a better quality of life. Bobby Meador stated the only medication he provided was Tylenol and melatonin.”

Detectives interviewed witnesses who reported that Meador was known to have people at his home to use methamphetamine and other drugs, with his partner reportedly telling police that Meador was a source of pills.

Meador’s partner reportedly told police that he witnessed Meador grind a pill in a bowl, add water and load the mixture into a syringe to give to his granddaughter.

“Two witnesses described what they believed to be active methamphetamine manufacturing operations behind the residence during the years preceding the child’s death,” Smith stated in the warrant. “Additional witnesses reported that Bobby frequently consumed substantial amounts of alcohol and left juvenile females responsible for caring for his medically fragile granddaughter for extended periods. Witnesses stated that htese juvenile females eventually fled the residence and that the child’s death occurred shortly thereafter.”

Meador remains jailed under a $50,000 cash bond.