Indiana man gets life in prison for 1975 murder of teen who was ‘fighting for her life’

An Indiana man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1975 murder of a 17-year-old girl who was found dead in a river after she failed to return home from work at a church camp.

A Noble County judge on Tuesday sentenced Fred Bandy Jr., 69, to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Laurel Jean Mitchell’s death in August 1975. The Goshen man was convicted of first-degree murder after a trial this month.

A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from Bandy’s attorney.

That was him indicted along with John Wayne Lehman69, of Auburn, Indiana, in the murder of Mitchell last year. Lehman was sentenced this month to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.

Mitchell was found drowned in the Elkhart River on August 7, 1975, the morning after she failed to return home to North Webster, about 140 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Although Mitchell’s cause of death was ruled as drowning, police say the autopsy report suggested she “had fought for her life therefore the police started a murder investigation.

Prosecutors charged Bandy and Lehman with Mitchell’s murder in February 2023, nearly a half-century later.

Lehman said in a statement in August that Bandy raped Mitchell and drowned her. Lehman denied participating in the rape or murder and said his fear of Bandy prevented him from stopping the crimes, The News-Sun of Kendallville reported.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, investigators said they believed Bandy and Lehman “forcibly and intentionally drowned” Mitchell after taking her to the river in Bandy’s car.

In recent years, a DNA profile was obtained through testing on Mitchell’s clothing, which was preserved along with other evidence collected in 1975. According to the affidavit, Bandy voluntarily provided a DNA sample to state police in December 2022, and tests showed he had $13 billion. times “more likely the contribution of the DNA in Laurel J. Mitchell’s clothing than any other unknown person.”

The DNA test came after three people who were teenagers at the time of Mitchell’s killing tied Bandy and Lehman to the crime based on incriminating comments they made about her death, the affidavit said.

CBS affiliate WTTV reported that because Bandy had to be sentenced under 1975 standards, the possible outcome was life in prison with the possibility of parole or the death penalty, prosecutors said. The 1975 state death penalty was later declared unconstitutional, eliminating that option.