A woman who at age 16 was the youngest death
row inmate in Indiana was
found dead, apparently by her own hand, two years after was released from
prison.
Paula
Cooper had pleaded guilty to murder in 1986 but a successful appeal led to her
June 2013 release after 27 years in prison.
Cooper,
45, died just after 7:15 a.m. ET Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to
the head, according to the Indianapolis
Metropolitan Police Department . Her death is still under
investigation, and the Marion County coroner's office conducted an autopsy
Wednesday.
"It's
an unusual ending to a tragic case," said Indianapolis lawyer Jack
Crawford, who was the Lake County prosecutor when Cooper was charged.
"I've been involved in a lot of cases in my life, and nothing compared to
this case."
Cooper
became infamous in 1985 when at 15 she was charged with murder in the stabbing
of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke during a robbery. Law enforcement identified Cooper
as the ringleader in the slaying. Cooper was 15 when she was charged with
murder in the stabbing of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke, a Bible teacher in the
Chicago suburb of Gary,
Ind. , during a robbery.
Three
other co-defendants — also teenage girls at the time — went to prison but have
been released.
Cooper
was 16 when she was convicted, the youngest person ever in this state to face
the death penalty when she was sentenced. At the time in 1986, she also was the
youngest Death Row inmate in the country.
An
appeal from Pope
John Paul II , an international campaign to overturn the death sentence
and legal challenges helped spare Cooper's life.
The Indiana
Supreme Court commuted
the death sentence in 1989 and sent her to prison for 60 years. She earned
credits for an early release.
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