On April 9, 2010, Jeffrey Allen Weisheit (born March 1976) set fire to his girlfriend's house in Evansville, Indiana, leading to the deaths of her two children, Alyssa and Caleb Lynch, aged eight and five, respectively. They died from smoke and soot inhalation, and were found gagged and tied up inside the house. Weisheit, who fled Indiana after the crime, was arrested in Kentucky and charged with double murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2013. He is currently scheduled to be executed on November 5, 2026.
Double murder In the early morning hours of April 10, 2010, the German Township Fire Department received a report that a fire broke out at one of the houses in Evansville, Indiana. The firefighters arrived at the house thereafter and put out the fire. Inside the residence, the police found the dead bodies of a young girl and boy.Weisheit v. State , Indiana Supreme Court (United States).
The children were identified as five-year-old Caleb Lynch and eight-year-old Alyssa Lynch. Caleb was found hog-tied on a mattress and his mouth was stuffed with a washcloth and covered with duct tape. A railroad flare was stuffed in his underwear and another flare was also found underneath his body. Alyssa was found inside a closet, presumably trapped inside or trying to hide from the fire. About 90% of her body was charred black from the fire, and autopsy results concluded that the children died as a result of smoke inhalation, and they were still alive when the fire first occurred. The house belonged to 34-year-old Jeffrey Allen Weisheit, who was the boyfriend of the Lynch children's mother. The Lynch children and their mother, who was pregnant with Weisheit's child, had lived with Weisheit in the house since 2008.
Subsequent investigations revealed that Weisheit was the perpetrator responsible for starting the fire that killed the Lynch children. According to his statements, Weisheit was angered at Caleb for his disobedience and refusal to go to bed, and he thus stuffed a washcloth inside Caleb's mouth before he used duct tape to seal the boy's mouth and tie his hands behind his back. Weisheit also stuffed a flare stick in Caleb's underwear and another under his body, before he ignited them, which resulted into the fire that killed Caleb and his sister Alyssa. Weisheit escaped from the house after he packed his clothes and some of his girlfriend's belongings. It was also revealed that Weisheit resigned from his job and withdrew all of the money in his bank account, and he also expressed apparent unhappiness towards the children's mother due to his suspicion that her child may not be his.
After murdering the Lynch siblings, Weisheit fled by car to Northern Kentucky on that same day, and while on Interstate 75, he was caught speeding his vehicle by two Boone County sheriff's deputies, and the officers gave chase while trying to stop him. The pursuit ended in Covington, and according to sources, Weisheit swerved and attempted to hit the officers, and he also tried to charge at them with a knife. However, he was arrested after the officers managed to taser and subdue him.
Trial of Jeffrey Weisheit Charges On April 13, 2010, Jeffrey Weisheit was extradited back to Indiana, where he was charged with two counts of murder, and he was detained at the Vanderburgh County Confinement Center.
On April 27, 2010, Weisheit was scheduled to stand trial on April 4, 2011, at the Vanderburgh County Court, and the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office planned to seek the death penalty against him.
In August 2010, the trial was confirmed to be conducted in Clark County, Indiana.
The trial date of April 2011 was subsequently delayed. In March 2012, the trial date was rescheduled on August 6, 2012. In December 2012, a new trial date of June 3, 2013, was set for Weisheit's case.
Trial process and conviction On June 3, 2013, Weisheit officially stood trial for the murders of the Lynch children, and jury selection started on the first day. The selection phase lasted for five days before it was completed on June 8, 2013.
The opening arguments were first made on June 11, 2013. The prosecution first called two witnesses: the two Vanderburgh County Sheriff Deputies who first responded to the crime scene and discovered the bodies of the children, and the jury first heard the details of the murder case.
Halfway through the trial, the defence requested to the judge to declare a mistrial, because one of the jurors was replaced by an alternate due to the said juror receiving a note from a relative in midst of the proceedings. However, the judge denied the motion and the trial continued on.
On June 18, 2013, Weisheit was found guilty of two counts of murder and one count of arson.
Death sentence A sentencing trial was conducted after the jury's guilty verdict. During the hearing, the defence called upon Weisheit's childhood friends and psychiatric experts to testify on behalf of the defence, and according to both Dr. David Price and Dr. Heather Henderson-Galligan, Weisheit was diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder and also suffered from possible brain damage. These testimonies formed the basis of the defence's request for life without parole. However, the prosecution sought the death penalty, and also summoned a psychiatric expert, Dr. Hal Corwin, to rebut the defence's evidence.
On June 21, 2013, the jury recommended the death penalty for Weisheit. A formal sentencing date of July 11, 2013, was scheduled for Weisheit.
On July 11, 2013, Weisheit was formally sentenced to death by Clark County Judge Daniel Moore. During sentencing, Judge Moore remarked that the defendant had "defied any level of decency" and carried out the murders of Caleb and Alyssa Lynch with a "cold and depraved heart". After his sentencing, Weisheit became the 13th prisoner to be condemned to Indiana's death row, and was transferred to the Indiana State Prison at the end of his sentencing trial.
In response to Weisheit's death sentence, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Gary Shutte stated that Weisheit had ample opportunity to avoid the death penalty by accepting a plea deal previously proposed by the prosecution in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, but he chose to not do so and instead headed for trial and received the death sentence. According to Shutte, it was his first case where the defendant was actually sentenced to death before a jury and judge.
Appeals On February 18, 2015, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected Jeffrey Weisheit's direct appeal against his death sentence and murder conviction.
On September 7, 2017, Weisheit filed a second appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court. On November 7, 2018, Weisheit's appeal was rejected by the Indiana Supreme Court.
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Weisheit's appeal.
On September 7, 2023, Weisheit's federal appeal was dismissed by Judge Sarah Evans Baker of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
On August 13, 2025, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Weisheit's appeal against his death sentence.Weisheit v. Neal , 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (United States).
On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Weisheit's final petition for a writ of certiorari.
Death row By January 2014, Jeffrey Weisheit was one of the 11 inmates remaining on Indiana's death row. As of July 2020, Weisheit was one of eight death row prisoners still awaiting execution in Indiana.
In June 2024, one of Indiana's eight condemned inmates, convicted mass murderer Joseph Corcoran, was put to death by lethal injection on December 18, 2024, marking Indiana's first execution in 15 years after the state's informal moratorium on capital punishment due to the difficulty of procuring drugs for lethal injection executions. Corcoran's execution left seven inmates remaining on the state's death row.
In May 2025, Benjamin Ritchie was executed for the 2001 murder of a police officer, leaving Weisheit and five more inmates left on death row. After the October 2025 execution of Roy Lee Ward for the 2001 murder of Stacy Payne, only five prisoners, including Weisheit, remained on Indiana's death row that same month.
Death warrant On June 17, 2026, the Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a motion seeking an execution date for Jeffrey Weisheit.
In response to the Indiana Attorney General's motion, Weisheit filed an appeal seeking to extend the time period by an additional 15 days for him to file a response to the state's application for his death warrant. However, on June 29, 2026, the request was denied. The defence filed their written response on August 6, 2026, stating that Weisheit should not be executed due to ineffective counsel, his childhood traumatic head injuries and the concerns over the lethal injection drugs.
On August 28, 2026, the Indiana Supreme Court signed Weisheit's death warrant and scheduled an execution date of November 5, 2026.
Clemency hearing On September 15, 2026, the Indiana Parole Board scheduled a clemency hearing for Weisheit on October 16, 2026.
See also Capital punishment in Indiana List of murdered American children
List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States
References