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From death row to freedom, Paula Cooper dead of apparent suicide (Pope John Paul II Interceded)
Northwest Indiana Times ^ | 5-26-2015 | Dan Carden

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 ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: cooper; karma; murder; suicide
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For those that don't know, this was the perp in the nationwide story of 4 teenage girls from Gary's Lew Wallce School that nurdered a woman. Cooper was the one who stabbed the woman 33 times, so violently that the knife got stuck in the floor.

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.

1 posted on 05/26/2015 5:03:59 PM PDT by tcrlaf
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To: tcrlaf

Alrighty then.


2 posted on 05/26/2015 5:06:51 PM PDT by loungitude (The truth hurts.)
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To: tcrlaf

Released in June, 2013, after serving ~30 yrs of her (commuted) 60 yr sentence.


3 posted on 05/26/2015 5:10:08 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: tcrlaf
She was literally JUST released from Prison a couple of weeks ago.

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."

4 posted on 05/26/2015 5:11:18 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there....)
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To: tcrlaf

Just how did a convicted felon like her obtain a gun?


5 posted on 05/26/2015 5:12:01 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: tcrlaf

30 years late


6 posted on 05/26/2015 5:12:09 PM PDT by GeronL (free short story: http://flscifi.blogspot.com/2015/05/free-short-story-proper-care-feeding-of.html)
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To: tcrlaf

It seems unlikely that a women, let alone 16, would get the death penalty.


7 posted on 05/26/2015 5:13:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: tcrlaf
Indianapolis police said they have not determined why Cooper killed herself outside a technical school. They also still are investigating how she was able to obtain a gun as a convicted felon.

Apparently gun laws are successful only at keeping guns out of the hands of law abiding gun owners.

8 posted on 05/26/2015 5:13:58 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there....)
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To: Farmer Dean

How does every errant yute in Chicago, Balmore, etc get one?


9 posted on 05/26/2015 5:14:02 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: ChildOfThe60s

She was granted parole.


10 posted on 05/26/2015 5:15:04 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: tcrlaf

Anyway it appears that the right thing has been done.


11 posted on 05/26/2015 5:15:20 PM PDT by 9thLife (The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately.)
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To: tcrlaf

May those who have had their lives destroyed by this woman find their peace. I’m sure she received the justice she deserved.


12 posted on 05/26/2015 5:16:07 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: Ready4Freddy
She was granted parole.

OK. But I'm only pointing out that June of 2013 is not "weeks ago".

13 posted on 05/26/2015 5:18:46 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there....)
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To: tcrlaf

They commuted her death sentence and she killed again.


14 posted on 05/26/2015 5:19:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: tcrlaf

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.


15 posted on 05/26/2015 5:19:18 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: tcrlaf

Final Exit: “A life for a life.”


16 posted on 05/26/2015 5:19:30 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Ready4Freddy

I guess that the background checks aren’t worth much.


17 posted on 05/26/2015 5:20:20 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

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.


18 posted on 05/26/2015 5:20:48 PM PDT by CyberAnt ("The hour has arrived to gather the Harvest")
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To: Farmer Dean

lol


19 posted on 05/26/2015 5:22:29 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: Farmer Dean
Just how did a convicted felon like her obtain a gun?

No way. The gun laws are too strict.

20 posted on 05/26/2015 5:23:45 PM PDT by kiryandil (Egging the battleship USS Sarah Palin from their little Progressive rowboats...)
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