Man pleads guilty to the unsolved murder of 5 year old April Tinsley 33 years after her death

FORT WAYNE, Ind. John D. Miller, 59, entered his plea to murder and child molestation charges on Friday for the 33 year old unsolved death of 8 year old April Tinsley.

Tinsley was abducted was by Miller, as she walked by to her friends house in 1988, to pick up her umbrella that she had forgotten.

A witness later told police that she had witnessed a man in a blue pickup truck taking Tinsley.

Her body was found 3 days later in a ditch about 20 miles away from she was abducted from. She was raped and strangled. Miller then began  taunting police, when they received a call to a barn. At the barn, police found a note that read  “I kill 8 year old April M Tinsley, did you find her other shoe haha I will kill agin (sic).”

Authorities found three notes in total claiming responsibility for Tinsleys murder at three different addresses in 2004. There were also used condoms. Those were the same condoms that were used to track Miller down. The samples from the condoms were matched to a DNA profile that were created after the crime at a DNA lab.

When police tracked Miller down to him questions about the unsolved murder, he later confessed.

Miller is facing 80 years in prison, he’ll be sentenced on Dec, 31st.

Photo credit: Fort Wayne County