Posted on 05/26/2015 5:03:59 PM PDT by tcrlaf
Paula Cooper, a Gary native who at age 16 was the youngest death row inmate in the United States before an international outcry helped reduce her sentence, killed herself Tuesday near an Indianapolis office building.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said officers were called to the 9500 block of Angola Court, near the northwest Indianapolis-Carmel border, Tuesday morning in response to a report of a body lying near a tree.
The Marion County coroner's office confirmed that Cooper, 45, was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:38 a.m. Indianapolis time from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Cooper's death comes 30 years and 12 days after she and three friends murdered Ruth Pelke, a 78-year-old Gary Bible school teacher, in Pelke's Glen Park home.
According to records, the teenagers pretended to be interested in taking part in Pelke's Bible classes to get into the house where Cooper, then 15, ultimately stabbed Pelke 33 times with a butcher knife.
She and the other girls, all students at Gary's Lew Wallace High School, then ransacked the house and got away with $10 and Pelke's car
(Excerpt) Read more at nwitimes.com ...
Cooper was sentenced to death, but there was a nationwide liberal outcry that she was too young. Pope John Paul finally interceded with the Governor, who commuted her sentence.
She was literally JUST released from Prison a couple of weeks ago.
Alrighty then.
Released in June, 2013, after serving ~30 yrs of her (commuted) 60 yr sentence.
According to the piece:
"She knocked one day off her sentence for each day of good behavior, earned extra credits for her educational achievements and won her release from Rockville Correctional Facility on June 17, 2013 after 28 years behind bars."
Just how did a convicted felon like her obtain a gun?
30 years late
It seems unlikely that a women, let alone 16, would get the death penalty.
Apparently gun laws are successful only at keeping guns out of the hands of law abiding gun owners.
How does every errant yute in Chicago, Balmore, etc get one?
She was granted parole.
Anyway it appears that the right thing has been done.
May those who have had their lives destroyed by this woman find their peace. I’m sure she received the justice she deserved.
OK. But I'm only pointing out that June of 2013 is not "weeks ago".
They commuted her death sentence and she killed again.
I think I remember when the murder happened.
My memory could be wrong but I think the girls testified that the old lady was praying for them while she was being murdered.
Such a brutal murder did not deserve any type of pardon. Maybe she made peace with herself before committing suicide.
Final Exit: “A life for a life.”
I guess that the background checks aren’t worth much.
She probably had a connection from inside the prison. That person arranged for her to be able to get the weapon at some inconspicuous place.
lol
No way. The gun laws are too strict.
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