He says he’s guilty of murdering a two-year-old girl by beating her to death at a Plymouth motel last year.
Shane Weedling, 24, made the guilty plea this week in a Marshall County courtroom. He’ll be sentenced in October and faces up to 65 years in prison, according to WNDU. Krysti Lavanway, the 24-year-old mother of Serenity Wilson, was sentenced in December to 35 years in prison. This after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent causing death. A murder charge was dismissed.
Wilson died Sept. 19, of multiple blunt force traumas to her head atLutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. She was airlifted there after her mother brought her to the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Court documents claim that Weedling beat Serenity for wetting the bed while Lavanway was at work. Lavanway arrived home from work at about 11:45 a.m., about 90 minutes after Weedling told her that he was beating Serenity and would continue until Lavanway arrived home. Police were called to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center at 2:31 p.m.
Weedling was previously charged with aggravated battery resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and possession of marijuana.
When he filed the original charges, Chipman told the media that he wasn’t charging Weedling or Lavanway with murder then because prosecutors would need proof that Weedling knowingly and intentionally killed Serenity.
“It’s not out of the question,” Chipman said at the time. “We’re bound by what we think we can prove.”
