An Indiana woman has been convicted of the August 2019 murder of her 10-year-old stepdaughter who was found strangled and stashed inside plastic trash bags in a shed behind the family home.
The jury deliberated for just three hours on Friday before finding Amanda D. Carmack, of Gas City, guilty of murder, strangulation, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and domestic battery resulting in death to a person under 14.
Carmack initially reported 10-year-old Skylea Carmack missing on Aug. 31, 2019, hours after the child was already dead. After a four-day search for Skylea, Carmack confessed to the killing at a police station.
Investigators had said they then discovered Skylea’s body stuffed in a plastic garbage bag and hidden inside a shed behind the family’s Gas City home. A pair of coloured pants were tied around her neck, the Indianapolis Star reported at the time.
Carmack first went on trial in November, but it ended with a mistrial after several people involved in the case tested positive for COVID-19.
The jury was scheduled to reconvene on Monday to decide whether Carmack should be sentenced to life in prison without parole, WANE-TV reported.
