Ind. prosecutor charges 17-year-old with adult murder in strangulation death of brother, 10

Ind. teen charged with murder in brother’s death

RISING SUN, Ind. — Ignoring his younger brother’s plea of “Andrew, stop,” a 17-year-old who told authorities he identified with a serial killer in a television show strangled the younger boy in cold blood, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Prosecutors filed preliminary charges of murder and a supporting affidavit Thursday against Andrew Conley of Rising Sun. Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard said Conley is being charged as an adult and will appear Friday in court.

The older boy was calm and showed no remorse or emotion as he described strangling 10-year-old Conner Conley as the two wrestled on Sunday, a probable cause affidavit said. Conley told investigators he then dumped his brother’s body near a park in the town about 20 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Sometimes people are just evil,” Negangard said. “This is an evil child.”

Conley’s family did not immediately return messages for comment Thursday. Negangard said Conley had an attorney but none was listed in the affidavit.

Andrew Conley told authorities he had had fantasies about killing someone since he was in eighth grade, including cutting somebody’s throat, and felt “just like” the serial killer Dexter on the Showtime television series of the same name.

According to the affidavit, Conley killed his brother, put the body in the trunk of a car, drove to his girlfriend’s house and gave her a sweetheart ring. Conley’s girlfriend told investigators he seemed happier than he’d been in a while.

Conley told investigators that killing his brother was like “when people have something like they are hungry and there is a hamburger sitting there and they knew they had to have it,” the affidavit said.

Negangard said he will consider seeking the maximum prison term of life without parole. Conley’s age makes him ineligible for the death penalty.

“I believe Andrew Conley is a dangerous person, and that’s why we’ll be considering the maximum penalty that we can impose,” Negangard said.

Conley also told investigators that on the morning of Conner’s death, he stood over his sleeping father with a knife and thought about killing him. Conley went to police Sunday night, admitted killing Conner and told investigators where to find the body.

He told investigators he strangled his brother for 20 minutes and the younger boy’s last words were “Andrew, stop,” according to the affidavit.

Conley has been held at the Juvenile Detention Center in Lawrenceburg but was to be moved Thursday night to the Switzerland County Jail in Vevay.

Indiana State Police Detective Thomas Baxter, who appeared at a news conference with Negangard, said Conley’s parents had taken him out of school recently and he once intentionally cut himself on a forearm.

“I think there was at some point some self-destructive attempts by cutting,” Baxter said.

Conley had no juvenile record and his teachers considered him a good student, Negangard said.

“This kid, Conner, was a good kid, and Andrew was an A and B student,” he said. “This comes as a shock to the community.”