Teen who strangled brother gets life in prison

RISING SUN, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana teenager who admitted he strangled his 10-year-old brother and told police he identified with a TV serial killer was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

Andrew Conley, 18, showed no emotion as a judge sentenced him for the Nov. 28 murder of his brother, Conner.

Judge James Humphrey could have sentenced Conley to life in prison without parole or to a lesser term of 45 to 65 years. But Humphrey said Conner’s age outweighed any other factors such as mental illness. Conley could not have faced the death penalty because he was 17 when he killed his brother.

In chilling video played during a five-day sentencing hearing last month, Conley calmly described how he killed Conner while wrestling with the boy at their home in southern Indiana.

The teenager told police he caught his brother in a choke hold as the child who witnesses said had idolized him fought and pleaded for him to stop. Instead, Conley said he choked Conner until he passed out, then dragged the boy into the kitchen, put on gloves and continued strangling him for at least 20 minutes.

He then loaded his brother’s body into the trunk of his car and drove to visit his girlfriend before dumping his body under some leaves along a park trail.

Three experts who examined Conley said he was severely mentally ill, while a fourth who didn’t interview him said he believed Conley showed signs of being a psychopath. None of them believed he hadn’t known what he was doing was wrong.