Rape, murder charges filed in Indiana toddler's death
SPENCER, Ind. -- An Indiana man drank whiskey with the uncle of a 1-year-old girl and then waited until the family fell asleep before abducting, raping and killing the toddler, prosecutors said Monday in court documents.
Kyle Parker faces murder, rape, kidnapping and other charges in the death of Shaylyn Ammerman, whose body was found Thursday night following two days of intensive searching. A state police detective says in Owen County court documents that Parker, 22, of Spencer, directed investigators to the remote, wooded location.
Court records did not list a defense attorney for Parker ahead of his initial hearing Monday afternoon.
The girl's father and grandmother, Justin Ammerman and Tamera Morgan, were the last people known to have seen her late Tuesday. She had been staying at her father's home under a joint custody arrangement with the girl's mother; her grandmother and uncle also lived there.
Parker was drinking whiskey Tuesday night with Shaylyn's uncle at the father's home and abducted her in the early hours of Wednesday after other family members had fallen asleep, court documents said.
Parker denied involvement in Shaylyn's disappearance when first questioned on Wednesday, but directed police to where her body was found near the White River outside of Gosport, about 40 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
An autopsy found Shaylyn suffered severe sexual trauma while she was alive and died from asphyxiation. Investigators reporting finding the girl's body next to a tree and a burn pile nearby believed to contain her clothes and other evidence.
Several hundred people attended a prayer vigil for Shaylyn at a Spencer park Friday evening.
