Hasty hearing set in Indiana girl’s dismemberment

May 11, 2012 at 11:18a.m.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man who confessed to bludgeoning a 9-year-old girl to death and dismembering her body is expected in court.

A defense attorney for 39-year-old Michael Plumadore declined to discuss the reason for the hastily scheduled hearing that will be this afternoon. A spokeswoman for Allen County prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors told the judge last week that they are ready for his trial to start next month.

Plumadore is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a dead body from the scene in the December 22 death of Aliahna Maroney-Lemmon at a trailer park in Fort Wayne.

Plumadore was a family friend who was caring for the third-grader because her mother was sick.