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Andrew CONLEY

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (17) - Told authorities he was inspired by the television series "Dexter"
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: November 28, 2009
Date of arrest: Next day (turned himself)
Date of birth: May 14, 1992
Victim profile: Conner Conley, 10 (his brother)
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Rising Sun, Ohio County, Indiana, USA
Status: Pleaded guilty. Sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 15, 2010
 
 
 
 
 
 

photo gallery

 
 
 
 
 

Indiana Supreme Court

 

Andrew Conley v. State of Indiana

 
 
 
 
 
 

Transcript of Andrew Conley's 1st police interview

 

Transcript of Andrew Conley's 2nd police interview

 

Transcript of Andrew Conley's 3rd police interview

 
 
 
 
 
 

Conley On TV: “I’m Going To Hell”

EagleCountryOnline.com

October 31, 2012

(Rising Sun, Ind.) – The so called “Dexter Killer,” Andrew Conley, was the subject of a nationally televised show Tuesday night on the E! Network.

But, as Conley said during the “When Teens Kill” episode, the connection made between Showtime series “Dexter” and the murder he committed against his 10-year-old brother Conner was overblown by the media. At the time of his arrest, Conley had told detectives that he could relate to the main character in the series about a serial killer.

“’Dexter’ was just a TV show I watched. The only thing I felt like Dexter was that I felt alone. I felt like nobody wanted me, even though I had friends and I had family. I just felt like I wasn’t any good to anyone,” Conley said in his first on-camera interview since his arrest.

Conley was 17-years-old when he strangled his little brother to death in their Ohio County home on November 29, 2009. He spoke about hiding his brother’s body near the Rising Sun City Park.

“I didn’t bury him. I just said goodbye. I put a few sticks over him, not too many. That was my own burial for him. I told him he will get justice,” Conley told the interviewer.

Conley later went to the Rising Sun Police Department to inform police of what he had done. The show gave a peek into the encounter between Conley and his mother, Bridget, who was inconsolable once arriving at the police station.

“When my mom showed up the police had to hold her back trying to get at me. She said both her kids were dead. She was crying and I was crying. She kept yelling ‘Why?’ and I didn’t have an answer,” Andrew said, later adding that his parents had never come to visit him in jail, but he didn’t blame them.

The show revealed that Andrew and Conner’s parents – they were working at a local casino at the time of the murder – have since divorced.

Andrew’s grandmother, Diana Monk, has kept in touch with him. She said she could not abandon Andrew.

“The first time I saw him in juvenile, he was crying and I was crying. He said ‘My parents don’t want me anymore Grandma. Do you?’” said Monk weeping.

Indiana State Police Det. Tom Baxter led the investigation into the murder. He remarked how calm Andrew was in revealing the details of the fratricide during a walk through at the murder scene.

“This whole demonstration, interaction at the house was just a matter of fact as any old conversation,” Baxter said.

Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard told the television program that the crime was a shock because Andrew had not been causing problems and had not been in and out of juvenile court.

“He was respectful, polite, the teachers liked him. He got good grades,” the prosecutor said.

Conley, now 20, is currently serving a life sentence without parole with the Indiana Department of Corrections. He pleaded guilty to the murder in Ohio Circuit Court in 2010, against the advice of his defense attorney.

A court psychologist who evaluated Andrew, Dr. Ed Connor, revealed that Conley desired the death penalty.

“I’ll never forget the day I sat there with him and he looked at me and he said, ‘Do you think you could get me the death penalty?’” Connor said.

Conley told the interviewer that he is going to Hell and he deserves to be.

 
 

Supreme Court Upholds Conley's Life Sentence

EagleCountryOnline.com

August 1, 2012

(Rising Sun, Ind.) – An Ohio County teenager’s sentence of life in prison without parole has been upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Andrew Conley was 17 when he murdered his ten-year-old brother, Conner, in their Ohio County home in November 2009. Conley equated his urge to kill to that of a starving person craving a hamburger. He told investigators he felt like the serial killer portrayed in the Showtime television series “Dexter.”

He was 18 when he pleaded guilty and was sentenced by Ohio Circuit Court Judge James D. Humphrey to life without parole in October 2010.

Conley, now age 20, immediately appealed the sentence. His attorney Leanna Weissmann argued the Humphrey did not properly consider Conley’s mental illness in handing down the sentence.

On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court ruled 3-2 to uphold the court’s punishment. “The heinous facts of this crime are difficult to comprehend,” the majority ruling read.

Life punishment is appropriate because Conley’s little brother suffered during the drawn out murder, justices said.

“The judge was within his discretion in weighing the mitigating factors in the manner in which he did. Ultimately, we find no abuse of discretion in Judge Humphrey’s analysis of those factors and ultimate sentence of life without parole,” Justice Steven H. David wrote on behalf of the majority.

Had the justices reduced his sentence to 55 years as sought, Conley could have been out of prison when he reaches his 40s.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that courts could not make life in prison without parole sentences mandatory. The justices did leave open the possibility that individual judges could issue the sentence to juveniles in individual murder cases.

Andrew told investigators he and his kid brother were wrestling in the living room of their Hartford Pike Road home when he strangled the boy to death with his hands. Andrew placed a bag over Conner’s head.

The teen then dumped Conner’s body in a wooded area near the Rising Sun City Park. He visited his girlfriend who later remarked to detectives that Andrew was “the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”

He went to the Rising Sun Police Department hours later to tell officers what he had done.

 
 

Indiana teen sentenced to life without parole for killing younger brother

By Mark Curnutte - Cincinnati.com

October 15, 2010

RISING SUN, Ind. - A judge sentenced teen killer Andrew Conley to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole for strangling his 10-year-old brother.

Judge James Humphrey of Ohio County Circuit Court dismissed nearly every mitigating factor defense attorneys used to try to temper the sentence so Conley could one day get out of prison.

Humphrey, reading from a prepared statement for about 20 minutes, said Conley knew what he was doing when his killed his little brother in November. He said Conley gave numerous inconsistent statements to police and mental health experts after he was arrest and – most damaging – he lacked remorse for the killing.

Conley sat without moving – as he did through out most of the five days of his sentencing hearing – at the defense table when the decision was read. He sat with his hands folded in his lap and his head down.

“He’s been incarcerated for almost a year, said defense lawyer Gary Sorge of Conley’s courtroom demeanor. “He knew under the best circumstances he would be locked up for years and years.

“He is very downcast, teary eyed,” Sorge said. “He is trying to keep a stiff upper lip.”

Humphrey said the one aggravating circumstances of the victim’s age far outweighed any mitigating circumstances that might have reduced his sentence.

Defense lawyer Gary Sorge said Conley would appeal the sentence within the required 30 days.

Conley admitted last month in court he strangled his brother, Conner, on the night of Nov. 28 while their parents were at work.

Conley then dumped his brother’s body, wrapped in a garbage bag, near a trail in a wooded area behind Conner’s school in Rising Sun. He had stopped at his girlfriend’s house for a few hours – with Conner’s body in the trunk of his car – to give her a friendship ring.

Prosecutor Aaron Negangard said he’s happy with the sentence.

“It is just and fair,” said Negangard. “He committed four violent acts on his brother.”

Regardless of the judge’s decision, society is not through in its dealings with Conley, said an Indiana University law professor who specializes in juvenile law and the death penalty.

“He is clearly mentally ill, and without treatment he’s going to be as much of a danger in prison as he would be outside,” said Jody Madeira, who teaches at Indiana’s Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. “The prosecution is looking for the maximum sentence, which might not be in society’s best interest.”

Defense and prosecution painted a conflicting portrait of Conley, who pleaded guilty to murder Sept. 13, on what was to have been the first day of his trial.

An exhaustive five-day sentencing hearing followed that plea.

Prosecutors portrayed Conley as a cold-blooded killer – calculating, aware of how wrong his actions was and capable of killing again. The state is pushing for a life-without-parole sentence, citing case law in Indiana and decisions by the Indiana Supreme Court that the lives of young crime victims must be protected by longer sentences.

“The court must find that any mitigating circumstances are outweighed by the aggravating circumstance,” Negangard said, attempting to counter the defense’s request Conley receive a minimum 45-year sentence which could eventually allow parole for good behavior and time served. “Given the defendant’s diminutive size, it was unlikely for him to fulfill his homicidal fantasies on anyone other than his 10-year-old brother.”

Negangard, of Dearborn-Ohio counties, also noted Conley was within six months of his 18th birthday, which would have made him eligible for the death penalty.

Defense lawyers Gary Sorge and John Watson, cited other Indiana court decisions, detailed four mitigating factors to bolster their claim Conley deserves the lightest sentence possible. They pointed to his age, 17, at the time of crime; his lack of any significant criminal history; remorse; and “other circumstances appropriate for consideration” – including his cooperation with police and the waiving of his right to remain silent.

They said in court that a stepfather raped Conley at age 7 or 8. The same man physically abused Conley’s mother and walked around the house in front of Conley with a gun in his mouth, threatening to kill himself if Conley’s mother, Bridget, left him, lawyers said.

“Based on all of the mitigators presented, Mr. Conley should be sentenced to 45 years in prison, the statutory minimum for murder,” Sorge and Watson said. “Mr. Conley’s age is a significant mitigator under the life-without-parole analysis.”

On the night of Nov. 28, with their parents working overnight shifts at area riverboat casinos, the brothers wrestled. Conley put his brother in a forearm choke hold from behind, causing him to lose consciousness. He dragged his brother into the kitchen – where Conner’s blood would clean easier from the tile floor than from carpet – knelt over him and strangled him for a good 20 minutes, he told investigators.

He then placed a white plastic shopping back over Conner’s head and fastened it with black electrician’s tape. He then dragged his brother feet first down a flight of steps.

Before hoisting his brother’s lifeless body into the trunk of his 1995 Honda Accord, Conley retrieved a black garbage bag and put it over Conner.

Conley told police he was a fan of the television drama “Dexter,” about a forensic lab worker turned serial killer who hunts criminals who slip through the legal system.

Conley also told police he had fantasized about killing someone since he was in eighth grade.

 
 

Judge Hands Down Life Sentence For Conley

EagleCountryOnline.com

October 15, 2010

(Rising Sun, Ind.) – In a blue shirt and white tie that he may have never reason to wear again, Andrew Conley sat quiet and unemotional as he found out the rest of his life will be spent in a prison cell.

Ohio County Circuit Court Judge James H. Humphrey announced the sentence of life without parole for the Rising Sun 18-year-old Friday afternoon. He faced a minimum of 45 years.

Only a few of Conley’s friends had showed up to support him, but not his parents who knew they lost both sons when 10-year-old Conner Conley was strangled to death by the older brother he looked up to. The event took place in their home on Hartford Pike Road on Nov. 27, 2009.

Slumping over in his chair staring into his lap in the courtroom, Conley showed no reaction as Humphrey read through factors he considered when deciding the harshest sentence.

“It was the right decision,” said Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard. “A 10-year-old child lost his life for no other reason that Andrew Conley wanted to know what it was like to kill somebody. For that, he deserved life and that’s what he got.”

Defense attorney Gary Sorge said Conely showed emotion away from the light of the television cameras and newspaper reporters after learning his fate.

“He was basically just very subdued, tearful,” said Sorge.

Mitigating factors the judge weighed included Conley’s lack of a criminal history, his cooperation with investigators, and his own age – he was 17 at the time of the murder.

However, aggravating factors far outweighed the mitigators.

Andrew’s remorsefulness was most at question between the prosecution and the defense. Judge Humphrey sided with the prosecution.

“True remorse would have been expressed during the hours the murder took place,” Humphrey said, adding that the murder – from the strangling to dumping the body in a wooded area near the Rising Sun City Park – took place over three to four hours.

Sorge disagreed with the judge’s assessment.

“I think he is remorseful. I think it’s just his personality,” said Sorge. “Some people are outgoing, some people are self-contained and he’s that type of individual. If you were alone with him the times that I’d been you’d see a different person.”

The murder included four violent acts, the judge said. Conley twice strangled Conner for a total of 20 minutes, placed a bag over his head, and slammed the boy’s head into the pavement in the family’s garage to ensure that he was dead.

Other aggravating factors named by the judge included reports from three psychiatrists that Andrew Conley may have suffered some symptoms of personality disorder, but he understood the wrongness of his actions and could still make the decision to not kill his brother.

Negangard insisted throughout the sentencing hearing that Andrew could kill again if ever released from prison.

Andrew told detectives that he twice entered his father’s bedroom armed with a knife intending to slit his throat the night the murder had taken place, but was unable to follow through. Another aggravator in the judge’s eyes.

“I was convinced that if he were to ever be released that he would kill somebody else. The judge by making the decision today has assured that will not happen,” Negangard said following the announcement.

Humphrey did not consider as a mitigator the fact that Conley reported the murder to Rising Sun police himself. Conley only went to police after his father asked him to go pick up Conner from their grandmother’s house where they believed he was staying, said Humphrey.

Conley’s written statement he read during a sentencing hearing in September was considered in Humphrey’s decision.

The judge did speculate at a motive for the killing.

Andrew wanted to go out with friends that November night, but had to babysit Conner because the boys’ parents were both working late shifts at a local casino. He drove Conner to their grandmother’s house near Rising Sun but she wasn’t home.

When the brothers returned home Andrew received a text message from his girlfriend asking him to come over. They began wrestling soon after that text. The wrestling led to something snapping inside Andrew as the strangulation began.

Conley never cited a motive himself, stating during the investigation and his courtroom statement that he did not know why he killed his brother.

Andrew Conley will have 30 days to appeal the sentence. Sorge said that is likely.

 
 

Conley Sentencing Hearings End; Teen Apologizes

EagleCountryOnline.com

September 22, 2010

(Rising Sun, Ind.) - The Rising Sun teenager who murdered his little brother will learn his sentence next month.

The five day sentencing hearing for Andrew Conley, 18, wrapped up on Tuesday with the Ohio Circuit Court Judge James H. Humphrey announcing Oct. 15 as the date of sentencing. The teen could receive anywhere from 45 years to life in prison.

Humphrey will weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors against one another in deciding a sentence.

Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard has said he believes Conley would kill again if released from prison.

Conley himself testified during the final day of hearings by reading from a one page, hand-written note.

"I would like to apologize to Mom and Dad for all this. I would like to apologize to the community of Ohio County for all this happening. I still have no idea why this happened but I really wish I did. I go to sleep every night and wake up every morning and wish I could change what happened,” Conley said.

He continued saying he is a monster and deserves to rot in jail.

Conley vowed to earn a college degree in history or astrology while serving his prison sentence. He said he would happily run Beth Hurley’s restaurant – the Courtyard Restaurant on Front Street in Rising Sun - once he’s out.

Conley’s testimony was not subject to cross-examination by prosecutors.

The story out of the sleepy Ohio County rivertown continues to generate national attention. On Tuesday, the story was linked on the Drudge Report.

Conley pleaded guilty Sept. 13 to murdering his 10-year-old brother Conner Conley on Nov. 28, 2009. The boys’ parents were at work that evening when Conley strangled his brother for 20 minutes. Andrew, then 17, told investigators he placed a bag over Conner’s head and placed the body in the trunk of his car.

Prior to dumping the body in a wooded area near the Rising Sun City Park, Conley spent three hours with his girlfriend at her residence.

Conley, who dropped out of Rising Sun High School just weeks before the murder occurred, said he had thoughts of killing people since he was in the eighth grade. He told detectives he felt like the main character from the Showtime television series “Dexter.”

 
 

Video Confession Draws Tears From Conley

EagleCountryOnline.com

September 17, 2010

(Rising Sun, Ind.) – The third day of testimony in the sentencing of Andrew Conley will begin at the Ohio County Courthouse Friday morning.

Conley, 18 of Rising Sun, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering his 10-year-old brother Conner last Nov. 28.

On Thursday, the prosecution showed Andrew’s videotaped confession with detectives just hours after he went to the Rising Sun Police Department to report the murder on Nov. 29.

Show on the video was Conley in an interview room with Indiana State Police detectives Tom Baxter and Glenn Potts.

"I reached into that drawer. I pulled out the bag. I pulled it over his head. I got the tape, the black electrical tape," Conley said, describing his motions after he had choked Conner with his hands for about 20 minutes.

Later, detectives took Conley to his family’s home on Hartford Pike Road in Ohio County where the murder occurred. He demonstrated the choking for the investigators using a teddy bear.

Watching the video drew the first publically visible emotional response from Andrew since his arrest. He broke into tears and asked Judge James Humphrey to stop the video. Court would be recessed twice due to Conley’s emotional display, however, Humphrey would not grant the teen’s request to go back to jail as the court proceedings continued.

Prosecutors could finish their arguments Friday. Conley’s defense will still have to present its side of the case starting either today or next week.

Once the sentencing hearing is complete, Judge Humphrey will assess the evidence - likely taking at least a week - and deliver a sentence. Conley faces a minimum of 45 years in prison to a maximum of life without parole.

 
 

Andrew Conley Sentencing Underway

EagleCountryOnline.com

September 15, 2010

(Rising Sun, Ind.) - Sentencing arguments began Wednesday morning for Andrew Conley, the Rising Sun teenager who pleaded guilty earlier this week to murdering his kid brother last November.

Prosecutors are hoping to convince Judge James Humphrey to sentence Conley, now 18-years-old, to life in prison without parole. Conley’s counsel is asking for a lighter sentence between the mandatory 45 to 65 years for a murder conviction in Indiana.

First day testimony in Ohio County Circuit Court included investigators speaking of the brief conversation Andrew Conley had with his parents at the Rising Sun Police Department after Conley voluntarily went to police on Nov. 29, 2009 to report he had killed his 10-year-old brother, Conner, the previous day.

Ohio County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Ziegler, who went to find the boy’s body where it had been dumped by Andrew near the Rising Sun City Park, said he returned to the department to tell the parents a body had been found.

Soon afterwards, Ziegler said, Conley’s parents were allowed to see Andrew in the room he was being interviewed in.

“Bridget Conley walked in and looked at Andrew and stated ‘You killed my son,” said Ziegler. “Andrew stated ‘I know.’”

Other testimony included photos of the wooded area where the victim’s body was found.

Rising Sun Police Patrolman Wayne Siekman was the first officer to hear Conley’s confession. Seikman testified that Conley was emotional at first – showing tears in his eyes and whimpering – before becoming calm and unemotional as he described how he had killed Conner and dumped the body.

Andrew Conley wore a blue shirt and white for the hearing, showing little emotion while often staring at the table he was seated at in the courtroom.

Prosecutors say they plan to spend the rest of the week presenting evidence supporting their request for a life sentence.

Judge James H. Humphrey will take the arguments of both sides and render a verdict to be announced at a later date.

 
 

Andrew Conley, Indiana teen who allegedly murdered brother, inspired by television show 'Dexter'

By Aliyah Shahid - NYDailyNews.com

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

He blamed it on "Dexter."

A southern Indiana teen, who allegedly strangled his 10-year-old brother to death, said he was inspired by the television serial killer character Dexter.

Andrew Conley pleaded guilty on Monday to killing his younger sibling, Conner, last November.

Police said after the gruesome murder, Conley -- 17 years old at the time -- packed his brother's body into the trunk of his car and drove to his girlfriend's house to watch a movie.

The teen told police that he identified with Dexter, played by Michael C. Hall, in the Showtime television series about a police blood-spatter analyst who is also a serial killer.

Hall won a Golden Globe for the character, but the show has been criticized for being too violent by the Parents Television Council.

"I felt like I had to," said Conley, who lives in the small town of Rising Sun.

According to ABC, he compared the urge to kill with a hungry person craving a hamburger, and said he fantasized about killing people since he was in the eighth grade.

Police said on the morning of Conner's murder Conley told authorities that he also contemplated killing his sleeping father.

According to The Associated Press, prosecutors plan on seeking a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Conley cannot face the death penalty because he was under 18 when the crime was committed. Defense attorneys are supposed to argue that Conley was insane at the time of the murder.

This isn't the first murder tied to "Dexter." In 2008, a 29-year-old Canadian filmmaker, Mark Twitchell, was charged with murdering a man based on a storyline from the show.

 
 

Andrew Conley Says He Was Inspired by 'Dexter' to Strangle Brother

By Emily Friedman - ABCNews.go.com

December 4, 2009

An Indiana teen who has allegedly admitted strangling his little brother likened the murder to satisfying a craving for a hamburger and told authorities he was inspired by the television series "Dexter."

Anthony Conley, 17, is charged with murdering his 10-year-old brother Conner on Saturday night, allegedly strangling the boy and then stuffing his head in a plastic bag so that blood wouldn't "get everywhere," according to Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard.

"It's disturbing that a 17-year-old would want to kill under any circumstances, let alone his own brother," said Negangard. He described Conley as "emotionless" when he was interviewed by police.

According to Negangard, Conley turned himself into authorities the day after he allegedly murdered his brother. But the night before, Conley said he stopped at his girlfriend's home to give her a "sweetheart ring." The couple also watched the movie "The Green Mile," which focuses on the lives of prison guards on death row.

"His girlfriend described him as the happiest he had been in a long while," said Negangard.

Conley's lawyer, Gary Sorge, was not available for comment. Conley, who was scheduled to appear in court today, is being held without bail at Switzerland County Jail in Vevay.

Nobody answered calls made to the Conley's Rising Sun, Ind., home.

Teens Alleges He Was Inspired by TV Serial Killer Dexter Morgan

Negangard said that when Conley was asked to explain his behavior by investigators the teen said he identified with Dexter Morgan, the main character in Showtime's "Dexter," which chronicles the life of an undercover Miami blood spatter expert who doubles as a serial killer.

"Conley said that he just 'felt like him,'" said Negangard.

Reached for comment, a Showtime spokesperson had no comment.

This is the second murder that was allegedly inspired by "Dexter." Last year, a 29-year-old Canadian man Mark Twitchell mimicked a story line from the drama when he allegedly killed 39-year-old Johnny Altinger. Twitchell was dubbed a "fervid fan" of the show in local reports.

Melissa Rosenberg, the show's executive producer, told Canwest News Service at the time that this was a "worst fears" situation, and one that the show's creators "worried about from the beginning."

In interviews with investigators, Conley also allegedly likened his desire to kill to a craving a person gets when they want a particular food.

"He analogized the murder to when someone wants a hamburger," said Negangard. "He said that when someone wants a hamburger they've just got to have it."

Conley allegedly admitted to strangling his brother on Saturday night when their parents were both at work. Stuffing his brother's dead body in the back of his car, he then drove to his girlfriend's house where he spent the night.

Sometime the next day, authorities said Conley dumped his brother's body in a park just a few hundred yards from where the 10-year-old attended elementary school.

The next morning Conley was asked by his parents – both of whom Negangard said work night shifts – where his little brother was. Conley told his parents that his little brother was at his grandmother's home, which is apparently not unusual.

But when asked to pick up his brother a few hours later, Conley drove to the police station and turned himself in.

"The defendant walked into the police station and indicated that he had killed his brother," Negangard said. Later, Conley told authorities that he had been having trouble sleeping, the prosecutor said.

Conley was apparently recently pulled out of school, but a reason was not given, according to authorities.

Conley Case Comes in Wake Of Several Other Teen Crimes

Because of state law, Conley is not eligible for the death penalty but could be sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Prosecutors have said they will campaign for Conley to get life without parole if he's convicted.

Conley's alleged murder of his brother comes in the wake of several other gruesome teen crimes.

Fifteen-year-old Alyssa Bustamante was charged in October for strangling her 9-year-old neighbor after allegedly digging a grave for the girl in their Missouri neighborhood.

And five Florida teenagers, one just 13 years old, were charged with throwing rubbing alcohol on 15-year-old Michael Brewer and lighting him on fire over a videogame debt. Brewer was burned over 65 percent of his body, but survived.

In October, six teens allegedly gang raped a 15-year-old girl outside her Richmond, Calif., high school homecoming dance.

 
 

Andrew Conley, 17, charged with murder in the death of his brother, Conner Conley, 10, in Rising Sun., Ind.

By Mark Curnutte - Cincinnati.com

December 3, 2009

RISING SUN, Ind. – A 17-year-old accused of killing his 10-year-old brother told prosecutors he had fantasized since the eighth grade about beating someone to death and modeled himself after a television serial killer, Ohio County prosecutors said.

Andrew Conley told investigators he spent 20 minutes choking his brother, Conner, after they wrestled and had also planned to kill his father.

Prosecutor Aaron Negangard bluntly assessed the teen: “He’s a cold-blooded murderer,” he said.

Negangard, prosecutor for Dearborn and Ohio counties, said Thursday that charges against Andrew Conley were upgraded to murder and that he will be tried as an adult. He is not eligible for the death penalty because of his age but could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Details of the case chilled even veteran law enforcement officials in southeast Indiana.

“He spoke with no emotion, no remorse, in describing the death of his brother,” Negangard said of Andrew Conley. “This was a deliberate murder.”

With both of their parents at work Saturday night, the boys were alone in their rural Ohio County home. Andrew Conley put his younger brother in a headlock, causing Conner to lose consciousness. He told police that Conner’s last words were, “Andrew, stop.”

Then Andrew dragged his brother, barely breathing, into the kitchen, retrieved a pair of gloves from the living room and returned to choke him with both hands – for about 20 minutes – until the boy bled from the mouth and nose.

Andrew took a plastic bag from a kitchen drawer, put it over Conner’s head and secured it with black electrical tape at the neck. He dragged his brother’s body by the feet down the basement steps and outside to his car. Before Andrew put his brother’s body in the trunk, he struck Conner’s head against the ground several times, he told police.

In early interviews with police, according to court documents, Andrew said he then drove to Rising Sun City Park, near the elementary school where Conner was in the fifth grade, and dumped the body in a wooded area, slightly concealing it with vegetation. The body was found Sunday night.

In an interview Tuesday with police, Andrew Conley told police he made one stop before dumping Conner’s body. After changing his clothes, because Conner’s blood was on his gray sweat shirt, Andrew said he drove to the home of his girlfriend, staying a few hours, and unexpectedly gave her what police described as a “sweetheart ring.” The girl told police that, during their visit, Andrew seemed happier than she had seen him in awhile.

Andrew left his girlfriend’s house at around 11 p.m. Saturday and drove to the park.

The boys’ parents, Shawn and Bridget Conley, work at night, Andrew told police. His father came home around 3 a.m. Sunday, and his mother three hours later. He told them later that Conner was at his grandmother’s house in Rising Sun, a common arrangement.

Andrew told police that he planned to kill his father, too. Twice in the mid-morning hours of Sunday, Andrew said he walked into his father’s bedroom with a knife but found him asleep. On Thursday, police said Shawn Conley woke up once and found Andrew standing over him with a knife but that Andrew left the room. Shawn Conley was startled, police said, but said Andrew’s behavior that morning was consistent with his conduct in recent weeks.

The family had withdrawn Andrew two weeks earlier from Rising Sun High School because he had cut his arms.

Later Sunday, Andrew told police that he drove into Rising Sun and met with two friends and told them that he had killed Conner.

The court filing does not list an exact timeline but does read that “Andrew Conley walked into the Rising Sun Police Department and reported that he had killed his little brother.”

Andrew spent four nights in the Dearborn County Juvenile Detention Center in Lawrenceburg but was transferred Thursday night to the Switzerland County Jail in Vevay.

Andrew’s parents gave police permission to interview him.

During one conversation with police, he was asked why he killed Conner.

“Like I had to … like when people have something like they are hungry and there is a hamburger sitting there and they knew they had to have it and I was sitting there and it just happened.”

During the same interview, Andrew told police he watched the Showtime television show “Dexter,” about a serial killer.

“I just feel like him,” Andrew said of the character.

The autopsy was performed on Conner’s body Tuesday at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Dr. Dean Hawley, a forensic pathologist, determined that the cause of death of “manual strangulation” and the manner of death was “homicide.”

The boys’ uncle told The Enquirer on Monday afternoon that Andrew was in custody for killing his brother. The family declined comment when approached at the uncle’s Rising Sun home Thursday afternoon – just minutes after Negangard offered this assurance to a shaken community.

“We will pursue whatever we can to ensure that justice is done in this case,” he said. “Take him at his word. Andrew Conley is a dangerous person.”

 
 

Brother in custody in death of boy, 10

By Mark Curnutte - Cincinnati.com

November 30, 2009

RISING SUN, IND. – Many people in this Ohio River town of 2,500 woke Monday morning to the news that the body of a 10-year-old boy had been found the night before in a wooded area near a city park.

Durhonda Drew heard a report on the radio and talked at breakfast to her twins, students in third grade at Ohio County Elementary/Middle School, where the dead youth, Conner Conley, was in the fifth grade.

By noontime, even more shocking, word had spread around town – from the cigarette smoke-choked Snack Shack on Main Street to the halls of Rising Sun High School – that Conner’s 17-year-old brother had been arrested and was being held at the Dearborn County Juvenile Center in Lawrenceburg.

Jeremy Monk, the boys’ uncle who often watched them, said the 17-year-old was in custody and that his sister, the boys’ mother, had been with police all day.

“It’s a damn shame,” said Monk, standing on his front porch. “They are both good kids. They are both honor roll students.”

The Indiana State Police is leading the investigation, and its spokesman, Sgt. Noel Houze, said that a 17-year-old juvenile was in custody and had been charged with causing serious bodily injury, a felony.

“It is a preliminary charge,” Houze said. “It is still a death investigation.”

Houze refused to confirm the identity of the suspect. He said more information would be available Tuesday, once results of an autopsy were available.

Houze said he did not know the cause of death or a motive, but said police were not looking for any other suspects.

Conner’s body was found about 8:15 p.m. after Ohio County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Ziegler received word a boy’s body was in Rising Sun City Park. The body was discovered about 30 yards from a maintenance building near a dump, adjacent to an oil and antifreeze recycling station and an informal burial ground where three pets had been buried.

Parents in Rising Sun know the area as a popular hangout for teens.

Investigators believe Connor died elsewhere and that his body was moved near the park, Houze said. A missing-person report had not been filed, he added.

The Rising Sun-Ohio County Community School Corp. enacted its crisis plan Monday, calling available counselors and four ministers to the elementary/middle school to counsel its 625 students as well as staff, Superintendent Stephen Patz said.

Conner was in the fifth grade and had his name published in the weekly Rising Sun Recorder newspaper for being on the A-B honor roll.

“He was a good student, he had lots of friends,” said Patz, superintendent for 16 years.

Though other students have died of illness and accidental injury during his tenure, Conner’s death was the first Patz could remember involving foul play.

Houze, stationed at District 42 in Versailles, said it would be the first homicide in Rising Sun in 15-18 years.

The suspect lived near Rising Sun but not in the city limits and was taken into custody late Sunday night or early Monday morning, Houze said.

The brothers and their parents once lived with Monk in a house on Main Street, only a few blocks from the 260-student high school and no more than half a mile from the park.

Neighbors living near the house recalled Conner’s mother taking him to the nearby public swimming pool, but said the Conley family kept to itself.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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