Teen found guilty of killing, molesting New Carlisle 6-year-old

SOUTH BEND — A St. Joseph County Judge on Thursday found Anthony Hutchens, 16, guilty of murder and child molesting in connection to the death of 6-year-old Grace Ross in March 2021.

Grace was strangled in a wooded area near her home at an apartment complex in New Carlisle.

St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Sanford's verdict comes after nearly two years of hearings that concluded in a two-day trial this week in which prosecutors showcased DNA evidence and a video-taped statement from Anthony as proof the teenager killed Grace.

Ultimately, Sanford found prosecutors proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Anthony was 14 at the time of Grace's death and sat wearing a blue Superman jacket over a grey t-shirt with a design of a tiger on it as Sanford gave his verdict. Around a dozen family and friends of Grace also were in court to hear Sanford's verdict. They exited the room after the hearing without a discernable reaction.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chris Fronk said the guilty verdict was "not a surprise, but a relief."

"It just vindicates the fact that we did analyze the evidence properly," Fronk said. "At this point, the answer to the question 'what happened?' has been fleshed out."

Jeff Kimmell, Anthony's lead public defender, did not call any witnesses during the trial and asked only a few questions of the state's witnesses on cross examination. In an email to The Tribune, Kimmell said his stance remains that the case should be adjudicated in juvenile court, not adult court, and that he plans to appeal on that issue.

"Cases like these are very problematic because the courts must choose between a limited juvenile system aimed at assisting the child offender or waiver to adult court where sentences are generally much more punitive in nature," Kimmel said.

Beyond a reasonable doubt

Sanford's verdict comes after a two-day trial in which prosecutors presented a slew of physical evidence they said connected Anthony to the crime. The court also watched a video of Anthony's statement to police on the night of Grace's disappearance.

In a written order, Sanford said the evidence presented proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Anthony was guilty of the crimes as charged.

During the trial, a technician from the Indiana State Police's evidence laboratory testified that DNA evidence collected from Anthony and Grace's clothing, as well as Grace's body, showed "very strong support" for Anthony's DNA.

A forensic pathologist who performed Grace's autopsy also spoke in court and reported that the child's body showed signs of asphyxiation in numerous areas around her head and neck. Although he couldn't rule from just an autopsy that Grace had been strangled, he ruled the manner of death to be a homicide.

The doctor also noted there was evidence of blunt force injuries to Grace's pelvic region.

"This case is definitely unique compared to the other cases we've worked and so the professional lens has to step in and filter out the things that the standard community member or parent in us might feel," Fronk said. "We might acknowledge those, but we don't act on those."

A good portion of the trial also focused on a video of Anthony being questioned by detectives in the hours after Grace's body was found. At the beginning of the interrogation, Anthony told St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit investigators that Grace had followed him into the woods, but he lost track of where she went after a while.

Immediately after detectives told Anthony they would test Grace’s body for DNA evidence, the boy said there was another person in the woods — a shadowy man standing behind the trees who took control of him. After initially bringing up the figure, Anthony said he was afraid to say more because then the man would “come after me.”

Over the next hour of the video, detectives, and Anthony’s mother, who was present and repeatedly urged her son to tell the truth, pressed the boy to tell them what happened to Grace and why she was undressed.

Anthony then said the man “used my hands to strangle her to death” while repeatedly saying the man, or figure, was in control of his actions and that “it still feels like he’s in my head.”

During the trial, Anthony's lawyers asked only a few questions of one state witness and offered no objections to testimony or evidence presented. Because Anthony was first charged in juvenile, or probate, court in March 2021, questions were raised about his competence to stand trial.

Ultimately, physicians and doctors in both juvenile and adult courts found Anthony was competent, though Anthony's legal team used portions of those evaluations to argue that the case should have never been taken out of juvenile court.

In his order, Sanford noted that numerous evaluations "only found that Hutchens was on the autism spectrum" and that did not preclude Anthony from being held legally responsible for his actions.

Mishawaka detective Timothy Wiley, who questioned Anthony on the night Grace went missing, said the guilty verdict shows that the justice system arrived at the right conclusion.

"Professionally, every case matters. Every victim matters. But personally, I wanted to see us get the right answer. Not a answer, but the right answer," Wiley said.

Sentencing

Though Anthony is now convicted of murder and child molesting, there is a wide range of sentencing outcomes possible, meaning the state's work is far from over, according to Fronk.

The 16-year-old could, theoretically, face more than 80 years in prison if sentenced to the maximum amount of time possible on both counts, but that's unlikely given the boy's lack of criminal history, Fronk said. Because Anthony is under 18, Sanford could pursue alterative options and sentence the boy as a juvenile. If the judge took that route, Anthony could be placed in a secure juvenile facility, Fronk said.

Fronk said the state will ask Anthony to be sentenced as an adult.

"The nature of the crimes, the need for the safety of the community and the need for rehabilitation exceeds the reach of the juvenile court," he said.

Meanwhile, Kimmell said he plans to file an appeal regarding Anthony's case being moved to adult court. In court documents, Kimmell has argued a probate court magistrate's decision to move the case out of the juvenile system was "not supported by the testimony and conclusions of the experts appointed by the court."

In the meantime, Kimmell said he will seek to have Anthony placed in a juvenile facility within the department of corrections.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Judge finds New Carlisle teen guilty of murder, child molesting