April Tinsley’s mother sits in front row of court as her child’s alleged killer pleads not guilty

The family of April Tinsley, the first grader who was raped and murdered in 1988, came face to face with the young girl’s alleged killer after he was finally caught 30 years later.

April was raped and strangled to death, and her body was found in DeKalb County, Indiana, three days after she went missing. Police allege she was killed by John Miller. 

Miller, 59, was arrested on Sunday and faced court for the second time on Thursday. 

While she was too upset to attend the alleged killer’s first appearance, April’s mother Janet sat in the front row as Miller was assigned public defender Anthony Churchward, WPTA reported.

This week, she told reporters she had just one word to say to Miller if she was given the chance: ‘why’.

‘The only thing I’d probably say to him is why. I just wanna know why, and to see if he can come up with a good answer,’ she told WANE-TV.

Janet Tinsley, the mother of murdered April Tinsley, sat in the front row of the Allen Superior Court on Thursday as her eight-year-old daughter’s alleged killer pleaded not guilty

John Miller, 59, is accused of raping and murdering April in 1988 (pictured on Thursday as he faced his formal arraignment) 

John Miller, 59, is accused of raping and murdering April in 1988 (pictured on Thursday as he faced his formal arraignment) 

John Miller, pictured, has been arrested for the 1988 rape and murder of eight-year-old April Tinsley in Fort Wayne, Indiana

April went missing in 1988 and her case went unsolved for more than three decades

John Miller, left, was arrested on Sunday at his trailer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he allegedly committed the gruesome crime more than three decades ago

She told NBC when she got the call to say a man had been arrested for her daughter’s murder, she ‘got a chill from the top of my head to the tip of my toes’.

Janet says she’s not concerned about Miller’s sentence, as she is ‘sure he’ll get what he deserves’. 

During his formal arraignment, Miller pleaded not guilty, and was ordered held on no bond.

When he was arrested on Sunday, police asked Miller if he knew why they were there. Officers allege he responded: ‘April Tinsley’. 

April’s body was found in a ditch, about 20 miles from her Fort Wayne neighborhood, three days after she disappeared in April 1988.

Police said Tinsley had been raped. The killer reportedly left behind DNA but investigators were unsuccessful in linking it to a suspect.

The case picked up steam again two years later, when someone wrote on the front of a Fort Wayne barn: ‘I kill eight-year-old April Marie Tinsley. I will kill again.’

Two years after April's murder in 1988, police found a message scrawled on the side of a barn that read: 'I kill eight-year-old April Marie Tisley. I will kill again' 

Two years after April’s murder in 1988, police found a message scrawled on the side of a barn that read: ‘I kill eight-year-old April Marie Tisley. I will kill again’ 

The map above shows the locations of incidents around Fort Wayne that were linked to April's murder, including the abduction site, body recovery site, and where notes were left. Miller is believed to have been active until at least 2004, but so far is only accused of April's murder

The map above shows the locations of incidents around Fort Wayne that were linked to April’s murder, including the abduction site, body recovery site, and where notes were left. Miller is believed to have been active until at least 2004, but so far is only accused of April’s murder

Pictured: Janet Tinsley addresses reporters in a memorial garden made for her daughter, surrounded by the detectives that helped to catch the child's alleged killer

Pictured: Janet Tinsley addresses reporters in a memorial garden made for her daughter, surrounded by the detectives that helped to catch the child’s alleged killer

In 2004, a threatening note, nude photos, and used condoms were discovered on the bicycles of three young girls.  

‘Hi honey. I been watching you I am the same person that kinapped [sic] an [sic] rape an [sic] kill Aproil [sic] Tinsely you are my next vitem [sic],’ the note read.  

Eventually, it was a DNA match from a genealogist that allowed police to narrow in on John Miller. Items taken from his garbage bin, including used condoms, were used to match the DNA left at the scene to Miller’s. 

On Monday, April’s aunt went to the Allen Superior Court to see the man accused of killing her niece.

‘I just wanted to get up and go over and slap him one,’ Teresa Tinsley told the News Sentinel. 

Tinsley was joined by her daughter, her niece, and her niece’s husband, with two of the group dressed in bright blue shirts that read: ‘Never forgotten, always remembered’ on the front and: ‘April Tinsley, 1980 – 1988’.

She told the paper April’s father wasn’t ready to believe police had finally caught his daughter’s killer.

 

April's killer allegedly resurfaced in 2004, leaving threatening notes for young girls around Fort Wayne along with used condoms and pornographic Polaroids. One note left on a bicycle read: 'Hi honey. I been watching you I am the same person that kinapped an rape an kill Aproil Tinsely you are my next vitem. If you don't report this to police or I don't see this in the paper tomorrow or the local news I well blow up you house killing everyone but you. You will be mine' 

April’s killer allegedly resurfaced in 2004, leaving threatening notes for young girls around Fort Wayne along with used condoms and pornographic Polaroids. One note left on a bicycle read: ‘Hi honey. I been watching you I am the same person that kinapped an rape an kill Aproil Tinsely you are my next vitem. If you don’t report this to police or I don’t see this in the paper tomorrow or the local news I well blow up you house killing everyone but you. You will be mine’ 



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