'Selfishly stolen from us': South Bend man sentenced in Rodeway Inn homicide
SOUTH BEND — A South Bend man who admitted to killing a 22-year-old woman at a motel north of Roseland in 2019 was sentenced Wednesday to more than 50 years in prison.
In September 2019, Jenna Lynn Vanhorn was killed in a shooting at the Rodeway Inn when police believe Jamie Garner arrived at the motel early in the morning, got into a shouting match with Vanhorn and then shot her.
In December, Garner, 49, pleaded guilty to the murder in a deal with prosecutors that capped any sentence at 55 years. On Wednesday, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hurley sentenced Garner to 55 years in prison, finding that his prior criminal history precluded her from suspending 10 years of the sentence, as Garner's attorney requested.
At Garner's sentencing, prosecutors read a statement written by Vanhorn's stepmother saying the woman's family was struggling to move on after Vanhorn "was brutality taken from us, selfishly stolen from us.”
"We miss her words, her laughter, her kind heart. We miss everything about her," the statement said.
Garner did not speak on his behalf, though his attorney requested that 10 years of the sentence be suspended to probation given Garner's age.
Court documents in the case detail that police were called to the Rodeway Inn on Indiana 933 around 4 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2019, for reports of a shooting and a man walking around naked in the motel's parking lot. A woman at the scene pointed responding officers to room 248, where there were bullet holes in the windows.
When officers entered the room, they found Vanhorn lying dead on the floor, the documents say.
The woman, who said she was a friend of Vanhorn's, told police she was staying in the same room with Vanhorn that night, when she was startled awake around 4 a.m. by the sight of a naked man pointing a gun and shouting at Vanhorn, court documents say. Vanhorn was shouting back and so the woman ran out of the room and called for police.
A third woman was also staying in the room that night and was able to identify Garner as the assailant, court documents state. Police also found a wallet with Garner's driver's license in room 248 as well as a car registered to Garner at the motel that night. Garner was arrested 10 days after the shooting near Detroit and brought back to South Bend.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend man sentenced in Rodeway Inn murder
