Murder of April Tinsley
April Marie Tinsley | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 18, 1980 Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | April 1, 1988 (aged 8) Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Asphyxiation |
| Body discovered | April 4, 1988, Spencerville, Indiana, U.S. |
| Resting place | Greenlawn Memorial Park, Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, U.S. 41°03′45″N 85°13′45″W / 41.06250°N 85.22917°W |
| Known for | Victim of child murder |
The murder of April Tinsley is an American child murder case which occurred on April 1, 1988, when April Marie Tinsley, an eight-year-old girl from Fort Wayne, Indiana, was kidnapped, raped, and strangled to death. The murder went unsolved for more than thirty years and became one of Indiana's most infamous cold cases.
Between 1990 and 2004, Tinsley's killer left a series of anonymous messages and notes in the Fort Wayne area openly boasting about the murder and threatening to kill again. The case was investigated by the Fort Wayne Police Department (FWPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and was covered in the television series America's Most Wanted, Crime Watch Daily, The Genetic Detective, and on the cable network Investigation Discovery.
Using forensic genealogy, the FWPD identified Tinsley's killer as 59-year-old John Miller in July 2018. On December 21, Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eighty years in prison on the charges of child molestation (rape) and murder.