Sarah Pender: Conviction, Evidence Collapse, and 2008 Escape

Sarah Pender is an Indiana woman serving a 110-year sentence for the 2000 shotgun murders of her two roommates in Indianapolis, a conviction that has drawn sustained scrutiny because the letter and informant testimony that anchored it have since been discredited and the prosecutor who tried her now says he would not have brought the case if he knew then what he knows now. A judge denied her most recent bid for a shorter sentence in January 2026, and her earliest release date remains 2054.

The Murders She Was Convicted Of

On October 24, 2000, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman were shot and killed with a 12-gauge shotgun inside a house on Meikel Street on the near south side of Indianapolis. Four people in their early twenties lived there: Pender, her boyfriend Richard Hull, and the two victims. Hull and Cataldi had been selling drugs from the residence. Accounts of what triggered the shooting differ: Hull later said it followed an argument over money, while Pender said the dispute began over a cellphone.¹

Pender has always acknowledged buying the shotgun, which she says Hull asked her to purchase for target practice, and helping dispose of the bodies in a downtown dumpster. She maintains Hull alone pulled the trigger and that she acted out of fear.²

At her 2002 trial, prosecutors did not argue she was the shooter. They argued she was the mastermind who manipulated Hull into killing the roommates. Deputy Prosecutor Larry Sells called her a “female Charles Manson.”³ The jury convicted her, and she received two consecutive terms totaling 110 years. Hull pleaded guilty and got 90 years. The admitted shooter is serving less time than the woman convicted of directing him.

What the Trial Rested On

Two pieces of evidence carried the prosecution’s case. The first was a letter that appeared to be Pender confessing to the killings, including the line, “Drew was so mean that night… I just snapped.” The second was testimony from Floyd Pennington, a jailhouse informant and convicted child molester who told the jury Pender had confessed to him and described how she coerced Hull.² Pennington was facing a potential 56-year sentence of his own at the time.

How That Evidence Fell Apart

The Letter Was Forged

In 2003, Hull signed an affidavit saying he had acted alone in the killings and had framed Pender to secure a better plea deal. He wrote that “Sarah was set up by me… so I could get a good plea.”⁴ At a 2005 court hearing, Hull admitted the confession letter had been forged by a fellow inmate named Steve Logan. Forensic testing backed him up: Pender’s fingerprints were not on the letter. Hull’s and Logan’s were.⁵ In September 2019, Logan filed his own affidavit confirming he forged the letter in exchange for protection from other inmates at the jail.

The Informant Had a Snitch List

Around 2009, Sells discovered a two-page handwritten document in a detective’s file. Pennington had compiled a list of people he was willing to inform on in exchange for leniency, writing that he would “help to make buys, wear wires, talk on phone taps or whatever I have to do to make busts on all of these crimes.” The list was never disclosed to Pender’s defense team at trial. Pennington has said in later interviews that he told the truth on the stand.²

The Prosecutor’s Reversal

Larry Sells, the man who called Pender a “female Charles Manson,” now says he believes she should not be in prison. In a January 2023 interview, Sells said he had “come to the conclusion that there definitely exists a reasonable doubt as to Sarah’s culpability in the case.” He added: “If I’d known the stuff that I know now, I mean, there’s no way that I would have prosecuted her.” In a letter supporting her 2025 sentence-modification request, Sells wrote, “I know of no credible evidence that Sarah Pender actually shot anyone. As a matter of fact, there is evidence she did not.”⁶

Why She Is Still in Prison

None of that has moved the courts. In February 2014, the Indiana Court of Appeals denied her petition for a new trial in a one-page order, finding she had “failed to establish a reasonable possibility” that she was entitled to a subsequent post-conviction hearing. The court described the snitch-list evidence as “not all that important to Pender’s defense.” A spokesman for the Attorney General said Pender was barred from appealing that particular decision to the Indiana Supreme Court.⁵

In December 2025, Pender appeared in Marion County Court to ask for a sentence modification. She wanted her 110-year term reduced to 45 years, which combined with time served and good-time credit would have meant immediate release. Her attorney pointed to her age at the time of the crime, 21, and her growth during 25 years of incarceration. Sells testified in her favor, calling the original sentence a “major injustice.” Relatives of the victims opposed the modification.⁷ On January 5, 2026, Marion Superior Court Judge Kevin Snyder denied the request in a one-page decision that offered no reasoning.¹

A March 2020 clemency petition to then-Governor Eric Holcomb, launched by Pender’s sister Jenifer, cited Logan’s forgery affidavit. A hearing was reportedly postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is unclear whether it was ever rescheduled.⁸

The 2008 Escape

Pender was already nationally known before the wrongful-conviction arguments gained traction. On August 4, 2008, she escaped from the Rockville Correctional Facility with the help of Scott Spitler, a corrections officer with whom she had begun a sexual relationship. Spitler smuggled her a cell phone and civilian clothing. On the day of the escape, Pender changed clothes, hid under the seat of a Department of Correction van at a fueling area, and rode out through the prison gate while Spitler stepped away to log fuel. In a visitor parking lot, she transferred into a car driven by a former cellmate, Jamie Long. She had agreed to pay Spitler $15,000.⁹

Under the alias “Ashley Thompson,” she made her way to Chicago and lived on the north side of the city. Her case aired on America’s Most Wanted in September 2008, and the U.S. Marshals placed her on their 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.¹⁰ A neighbor recognized her after a December rerun of the episode, and Chicago tactical officers knocked on her apartment door on December 22, 2008. She opened it and told them, “I’m her. You got me.”³ She had been a fugitive for roughly four and a half months. Spitler pleaded guilty to aiding escape and got eight years.¹¹ Long pleaded guilty to the same charge and got seven.⁸

Where Things Stand

Pender, now 46, is incarcerated at the Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis. Her earliest possible release date is January 12, 2054, when she will be 75.⁸ Hull is also still in prison serving his 90-year sentence; his 2017 petition for post-conviction relief was denied and that denial was affirmed on appeal in 2019.¹² The forged letter, Hull’s admission that he acted alone, Logan’s affidavit, and the undisclosed snitch list have not, so far, been enough to reopen the conviction.

1
IndyStar. Sarah Jo Pender, Dubbed the Female Charles Manson, Remains Imprisoned
2
WRTV. He Once Called Her the Female Charles Manson. Now This Prosecutor Believes Sarah Jo Pender Deserves Freedom
3
Fox 59. Trooper Who Tracked Down Sarah Pender Shares Story
4
The Progressive. Fixing Their Mistakes
5
IndyStar. Indiana Court Denies Sarah Jo Pender’s Appeal on Double Murder Conviction
6
A&E. Sarah Pender Escaped Prison, Many Call Wrongful Conviction
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WRTV. Convicted Double Murderer Begs Judge for Mercy Amid Sentence Modification Hearing
8
Biography. Sarah Jo Pender Now
9
Findlaw. State v. Spitler
10
Chicago Tribune. America’s Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested
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Tribune-Star. Former Guard Gets 8 Years in Prison
12
CaseMine. Hull v. State