Fred Bandy, Appellant-Defendant, v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Statement of the Case

[1] Fred Bandy appeals his conviction for the 1975 murder of Laurel Mitchell, alleging the State's evidence is insufficient. We disagree and affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] In the late evening hours of August 6, 1975, Mitchell was walking from Cokesbury Inn at Epworth Forest to Adventureland Amusement Park in North Webster. Bandy and John Lehman, who were traveling along the same road in Bandy's car, approached Mitchell, and she eventually got in the car.

[3] Bandy drove to a nearby game preserve, the Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area. At some point, he stopped the car, and he and Lehman exited the vehicle. Bandy then told Mitchell to get out, undress, and lie on the front seat. Bandy climbed on top of Mitchell and raped her. Afterwards, Bandy told Mitchell to get up, get dressed, and get in the trunk of the car.

[4] Next, Bandy drove the trio through North Webster and Ligonier. He eventually stopped the car at Mallard Roost, a public access point to the Elkhart River southeast of Ligonier. Bandy removed Mitchell from the trunk, forced her down into the water, and held her face underwater until she drowned. Mitchell's body was discovered later that morning.

[5] In the weeks and months following Mitchell's murder, Bandy twice bragged to his friends that he was responsible. On one occasion, Bandy told Bill McDonald, “the fat girl that they found at the Mallard Roost ․ I did that.” Tr. Vol. 2, p. 99. And another time, while Bandy and Lehman were with a group of three friends near Mallard Roost, Bandy asked the group if they “heard about that girl getting killed right over here” and stated, “[he] and [Lehman were] the ones that did that.” Id. at 112.

[6] But then the case went cold. In 2001, McDonald came forward with information about Bandy's involvement. Also that year, Mitchell's clothing items, which had been collected during her 1975 autopsy, were submitted for DNA testing. McDonald came forward several more times over the years, including once in 2014 when he spoke to Indiana State Police Sergeant Kevin Smith. At that time, Sergeant Smith, who had been periodically working on the cold case, added Bandy to the list of potential suspects. Then, in 2019, Sergeant Smith resubmitted the clothing items for another round of DNA testing. The results ruled out several of the other suspects on the list.

[7] In December 2022, Bandy provided a DNA sample, which was then compared to the DNA samples collected from Mitchell's underwear. The results pointed to Bandy. Consequently, the State charged Bandy with Mitchell's murder. The State also charged Lehman, who agreed to be deposed in this case pursuant to a plea agreement in which he was permitted to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. In October 2024, following a bench trial where Bandy waived his appearance, the trial court found Bandy guilty of Mitchell's murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. This appeal ensued.

Discussion and Decision

[8] Bandy argues there is insufficient evidence to support his murder conviction. Our standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence is well settled. When reviewing such a challenge, we neither assess the credibility of the witnesses nor reweigh the evidence. Scheel v. State, 235 N.E.3d 1278, 1282 (Ind. Ct. App. 2024), trans. denied. “We consider only the evidence most favorable to the trial court's ruling and will affirm a defendant's conviction unless ‘no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Teising v. State, 226 N.E.3d 780, 783 (Ind. 2024) (quoting Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind. 2000)).

[9] To sustain a conviction for felony murder in 1975, the State was required to prove Bandy either (1) “purposely and with premeditated malice” or (2) “in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate a rape” killed Mitchell. Appellant's App. Vol. II, p. 103; see also Ind. Code § 35-13-4-1 (1975). “Premeditated malice, in the context of murder, is shown where a mind has conceived of the thought of taking human life, this thought has been meditated upon, and a deliberate determination has been formed to do the act.” Drollinger v. State, 408 N.E.2d 1228, 1243 (Ind. 1980).

[10] Lehman testified that when Bandy parked the car in the game preserve, Bandy commandeered the group. He ordered both Lehman and Mitchell out of the vehicle and then ordered Mitchell to get undressed and lay down on the front seat. After Bandy had pulled his pants down and climbed on top of Mitchell, he asked Lehman to help him hold her down. At some point, Bandy told Lehman that he couldn't “ ‘finish’ ” and asked Lehman if he wanted to try. Supp. Ex., Depo. Tr., p. 22. Then, Bandy ordered Mitchell to get dressed and get in the trunk of the car.

[11] After the trio left the game preserve, Bandy drove back to North Webster and stopped at a drive-in for a fountain pop. According to Lehman, Bandy was trying to cover his tracks by being visible to people in town. Then, Bandy drove back roads to Ligonier. While in route, Lehman tried to persuade Bandy to take Mitchell back to North Webster and “ ‘drop her off somewhere.’ ” Id. at 26. Bandy threatened Lehman and told him, “ ‘You know what we've got to do because she's seen us.’ ” Id.

[12] When they reached Ligonier, Bandy decided to “chop through town, just drive through one way, turn around, and drive back through and leave.” Id. Again, according to Lehman, Bandy “thought if he was seen in town, they won't suspect him of anything.” Id. Next, Bandy drove around Diamond Lake and then pulled off into Mallard Roost. There, Bandy removed Mitchell from the trunk, forced her down into the water, and held her face underwater until she drowned. While Bandy was holding Mitchell underwater, he heard a car coming and instructed Lehman to drive away and come back to pick him up. Lehman obeyed. When he returned, Bandy approached the car and stated multiple times, “ ‘I did it.’ ” Id. at 29-30.

[13] Mitchell's autopsy was conducted the following day. The autopsy report lists her cause of death as drowning, and also indicates the medical examiner took a vaginal smear, which showed evidence of sperm, albeit “not numerous.” Tr. Vol. 3, Ex. 1, p. 10. Similarly, the coroner's file noted that the medical examiner believed “the offender was impotent, too old or too young because of the sperm count.” Id. at 16. During trial, the coroner elaborated on this observation, stating the offender “evidently was not capable of ejaculating an amount that might have been expected for somebody who had had coitus to its full consummation.” Tr. Vol. 2, p. 89. This is consistent with Lehman's testimony that Bandy couldn't “ ‘finish.’ ” See Supp. Ex., Depo. Tr., p. 22.

[14] Further, Mitchell's underwear was swabbed for DNA in 2001 and again in 2019. When compared to Bandy's DNA sample, one of the underwear DNA samples was “13 billion times more likely if it originated from [Bandy] than if it originated from an unknown, unrelated individual.” Tr. Vol. 3, Ex. 37, p. 67.

[15] It is clear from the evidence that Bandy, with premeditated malice, killed Mitchell. Bandy, while strategically navigating from the game preserve to Mallard Roost, decided to kill Mitchell because he had just raped her and she would be able to identify him. We cannot say a reasonable fact-finder could not find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. And because the 1975 murder statute was written in the disjunctive, the State need only prove one of the two alternatives set forth in the statute.

Conclusion

[16] We conclude the evidence is sufficient to support Bandy's murder conviction.

[17] Affirmed.

Baker, Senior Judge.

Judges Foley and Scheele concur. Foley, J., and Scheele, J., concur.