Jerry E. Watkins v. State Indiana

The facts are: On November 17, 1984, the nude body of the 11-year-old victim in this case was found in a partially wooded area in Hancock County. She last had been seen in the vicinity of her home on November 12, 1984. In June of 1985, appellant was charged in Marion County with the child molestation in September of 1984 of the victim in this case. A plea of guilty was entered to that charge and sentence was rendered accordingly. While confined to a holding cell behind the court, pursuant to the Marion County molestation case, appellant allegedly told Dennis Ackeret, who was being sentenced on an unrelated crime, that he had killed the girl for whose molestation he had just been sentenced. Ackeret testified that appellant told him he slit the girls throat and left her for dead in some bushes in Hancock County.