EVANSVILLE — A judge sentenced an Evansville man accused of shooting three people, one of them fatally, as part of an alleged murder-for-hire plot to serve 45 years in a state prison Friday.

Daniel Lawrence Alvey, 19, accepted a plea agreement in April and admitted to killing 18-year-old Olivia Huggler and seriously wounding two other people during what police called a targeted shooting in December 2021.

According to court records, Alvey pleaded guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of attempted murder — all of which are Level 1 felonies.

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In addition to Alvey, Evansville police also arrested Samuel Huggler, 26, after Alvey claimed to have been hired by Samuel Huggler to kill at least one person at a home in the 800 block of Kirkwood Drive on Dec. 14, 2021.

The shooting’s incident report listed all three victims as relatives of Samuel Huggler.

The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office charged Samuel Huggler with aiding, inducing or causing murder, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges, but that case fell apart in June 2022 after Alvey refused to testify against him.

A letter submitted to the court ahead of Alvey’s sentencing claims Samuel Huggler left the United States to live in a small European principality with which the U.S. has no formal extradition treaty.

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When Alvey and Samuel Huggler made their initial appearances in Vanderburgh County Circuit Court in December 2021, prosecutors requested sentences of life without parole for both men.

On Friday, Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Diana Moers declined to comment on Alvey's sentencing due to the potential for additional parties to be charged in connection with the killing.

Vanderburgh County Circuit Court Judge David Kiely imposed Alvey's sentence, court records state.

Police records describe investigation and alleged plot

Because Alvey’s case never went to trial, investigators have not publicly presented all of the evidence and eyewitness testimony collected in the days and weeks after the shooting. The probable cause affidavit filed in support of Alvey’s charges provides one of the only official accounts of what reportedly happened.

The affidavit states Olivia Huggler and one other victim were unloading groceries around 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2021, when an armed man wearing a camouflage ski mask approached them.

The man, who entered through the garage, demanded that a specific individual come outside, witnesses said, but he began firing soon after. The suspect fled the area in his vehicle, and responding officers reported finding three victims suffering from gunshot wounds inside the Kirkwood Drive home.

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Two of the three victims had sustained gunshot wounds to their heads, police said. Olivia Huggler was pronounced dead at a local hospital about 24 hours later.

The focus of the investigation quickly turned to Alvey, who was identified by at least two witnesses as a likely suspect. Additionally, at least one witness identified Samuel Huggler as a potential suspect, according to 911 audio obtained by the Courier & Press.

U.S. Marshalls located Alvey at a residence in Winslow, Indiana, about 40 minutes north of Evansville. Outside the residence, detectives said they found a vehicle that matched the one captured on surveillance footage fleeing the scene of the shooting.

Alvey reportedly confessed to being the shooter and claimed he was hired by Samuel Huggler to kill a member of the Huggler family, according to the affidavit, and supplied police with additional information that could help corroborate his story.

Alvey reportedly claimed Samuel Huggler offered him $5,000 to carry out the targeted killing.

“The money was to be paid to Alvey after the murder was done,” detectives wrote. “Alvey also states that he got the firearms and ammunition from Samuel while he was at his house several weeks ago.”

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A subsequent search of Alvey’s residence allegedly turned up a 9-millimeter handgun with an altered serial number and several rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, according to police records.

“Alvey states that the .22 ammunition found on the scene of the crime will match the ammunition that we found at his house,” the affidavit states. “Alvey also states that this ammunition will match the .22 ammunition that can be found in Samuel’s safe.”

Alvey was arrested and charged Dec. 15, 2021, and Samuel Huggler was booked into the Vanderburgh County jail later that same day.

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According to EPD spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray, Samuel Huggler refused to speak with investigators in the immediate aftermath of his arrest.

The specific terms of Alvey’s plea agreement remained sealed as of Friday afternoon.

Letter submitted to court claims Samuel Huggler fled United States

At least five people submitted letters to the court ahead of Alvey’s sentencing. The letters describe harrowing accounts of the shooting’s toll. One person said they now refer to Dec. 14, 2021, as “The Event.”

“I pray the whole truth of The Event is met with righteous judgment soon,” the letter stated.

But one of the accounts supplied to the court claims Samuel Huggler fled the country after the case against him was dismissed without prejudice.

“I found out Sam… moved to Andorra, which is a country that doesn’t extradite back to the United States,” the person, who described themselves as someone with extensive knowledge of the case, wrote.

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The letter's author claimed Samuel Huggler first traveled to Europe after his release from jail because he "felt he was going to get arrested again."

The U.S. does not have a formal extradition treaty with Andorra, which is an independent principality between France and Spain with a total population of about 80,000 people.

However, the United States has various means to seek the extradition of people from countries with which it does not have a formal extradition treaty.

The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the letter’s allegation. Public records contain now information that definitively shows Samuel Huggler moved to Andorra.

Because prosecutors dismissed Samuel Huggler’s charges without prejudice, they could still refile charges and issue a warrant for his arrest at a later date.

Houston can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville man accused in alleged murder-for-hire sentenced to prison