FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley of Fort Wayne 30 years ago will never be free again.
An Allen County judge on Friday sentenced John D. Miller, of Grabill, to 80 years in prison.
The sentence was part of a plea deal Miller made with prosecutors earlier this month. Tinsley’s family protested the deal when it was announced, saying that Miller deserved the death penalty.
Miller was arrested in July after DNA evidence and genealogical records led investigators to determine he was the person who raped and killed Tinsley and left her body in a ditch, according to Darrin Wright of WOWO News.
Miller was arrested in July after DNA evidence linked him to Tinsley, whose body he left in a ditch near Spencerville three days after her abduction.
Court documents say Miller confessed to the murder. He reportedly told police he strangled Tinlsey so she wouldn’t tell anyone he had molested her.
(Photo provided by the family of April Marie Tinsley.)
