ALBION, Ind. — A man from Indiana has been handed a life sentence for the murder of a 17-year-old girl, whose body was discovered in a river after she did not return home from her work at a church camp in 1975.
On Tuesday, a judge in Noble County sentenced Fred Bandy Jr., 69, to life in prison with the option for parole concerning the death of Laurel Jean Mitchell in August 1975. This follows his conviction for first-degree murder earlier this month during a bench trial.
Attempts to get a comment from Bandy’s attorney were made on Wednesday.
Along with Bandy, John Wayne Lehman, 69, also from Auburn, Indiana, was charged last year in connection with Mitchell’s murder. Lehman received an eight-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
Laurel Mitchell’s body was discovered submerged in the Elkhart River on August 7, 1975, the day after she failed to return home to North Webster, which is situated approximately 140 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
In February 2023, nearly 50 years after the event, prosecutors charged both Bandy and Lehman with Mitchell’s murder.
During a deposition in August, Lehman claimed that Bandy raped and subsequently drowned Mitchell. Although he asserted that he did not directly participate in the violent acts, he indicated that fear of Bandy prevented him from intervening, as reported by local media.
A probable cause affidavit noted that investigators suspect Bandy and Lehman “forcibly, deliberately drowned” Mitchell after transporting her to the river in Bandy’s vehicle.
Recent DNA testing conducted on evidence from Mitchell’s clothing, which had been preserved since 1975, yielded a DNA profile. The affidavit indicates that Bandy voluntarily submitted a DNA sample to state police in December 2022. The results showed he was 13 billion times “more likely to be the contributor of the DNA in Laurel J. Mitchell’s clothing than any other unknown person.”
The DNA evidence emerged after three individuals, who were teenagers at the time of Mitchell’s murder, connected Bandy and Lehman to the case based on incriminating statements they made regarding the girl’s death, according to the affidavit.