Sarah Pender

Parties and aliases

Sarah Jo Pender (also referred to as Sarah Pender; later used the name Ashley Thompson) was convicted along with her former boyfriend Richard Edward Hull of murdering their roommates: Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman.

Background

Sarah Pender was 21 and a graduate from Lawrence Central High School in 1997. She worked as a secretary at Carl E. Most and Sons.

Richard Hull, her boyfriend, worked as a bouncer at a bar. His criminal history included 6 misdemeanors and two felony convictions for auto-theft and for residential entry.

Andrew Cataldi (24) and Tricia Nordman (25) were fugitives from a Nevada Correctional Facility where Nordman served time on a forgery conviction and Cataldi served time on a possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine conviction.

Investigators reported that Richard Hull and Andrew Cataldi sold drugs from their place, and Hull confirmed this.

The offence

Victims and outcome

Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman were killed. The male victim was shot in the chest and the female victim was shot in the chest and in the head with a shotgun.

Circumstances leading to the killings

Neighbor Jana Frederick said tensions had been growing for three weeks between the couples as Richard Hull and Andrew Cataldi often had arguments.

Before the murders, Richard Hull, who could not legally purchase a firearm because of his record, sought to buy one from her boyfriend's son. When that did not work, he turned to Sarah Pender, who he convinced to buy a weapon for him.

In the morning of October 24, 2000, Hull drove Pender to a local Walmart where the clerk who handled the sale of a 12 gauge shotgun used for the murder saw Hull pick himself the ammunition and bring it to the counter where Pender paid for it. The couple then went for an outing with Pender's parents and returned home around 11 p.m.

Sarah Pender left the home shortly after to take a walk in the neighborhood.

According to Richard Hull, while Pender was away, an argument broke over money Hull's sister, Tabitha, owed to Cataldi. Hull told detectives that Cataldi knew about the recently purchased shotgun and went into Hull's room to try to grab the weapon. Hull told detectives: “He said he was going to kill my f------ family”.

A struggle followed. Hull then shot Cataldi in the chest and shot Nordman in the chest and in the head.

Disposal and subsequent actions

When Pender came back to their home, both victims were dead. Hull had already loaded one of the bodies in the back of a truck he had borrowed from a friend, Ronnie Herron, on October 23, 2000. Hull needed it to get stuff out of the basement because he and Cataldi planned to have a chemist from Las Vegas use the place to cook meth.

Hull and Pender drove a few blocks away and dumped the bodies in a dumpster where they were later found by Steve Stultz.

Investigation

Scene discovery and identifications

On October 25, 2000, at about three o’clock in the morning, Ed Leggon saw two large people covering the bed of a pickup truck out in front of a home at 906 S. Meikle Street, in Marion County, Indiana.

Later on October 25, 2000 at six o’clock PM, Stephen Stultz, an employee of the Teamsters Local Union at 869 South Meridian, discovered the bodies of a male and a female in a dumpster at the back of the Union address, a short distance from the Meikle Street address. The individuals were later identified as Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman.

The neighbor to the four individuals at 906 Meikle, Sarah Pender, Richard Hull, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, contacted law enforcement and told them she knew who the individuals were that had been killed, and told them that Sarah Pender and Richard Hull also lived at that address.

Descriptions of the victims and photos of their tattoos were shown on TV newscasts.

Search and forensic findings

A search warrant was secured by Detective Kenneth Martinez and other law enforcement officers. They searched the 906 S. Meikle address and discovered a lot of blood at the scene.

DNA analysis determined that the blood belonged to Tricia Nordman. Investigators also determined that it appeared there had been an attempt to clean up the blood and conceal evidence of the murders.

Jana Frederick told police that Richard Hull borrowed a plug adapter around noon on October 25, 2000, to use a carpet shampoo machine to clean the residence at 906 S. Meikle.

On October 28, 2000, Sarah Pender, when giving their full statement to law enforcement, turned over a pair of black pants belonging to Hull. DNA testing showed that the blood on those pants was that of Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman.

DNA testing showed traces of blood in the house and that attempts had been made to conceal the murders.

A later DNA result reported that no DNA evidence was found that linked Pender to the murders.

Arrest and initial statements

When Richard Hull was questioned in the early morning of October 27, 2000, he initially denied any knowledge of what happened to Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman.

Detectives advised Hull of evidence against him, including that he had borrowed from Ronnie Herron’s pickup truck the evening of October 23, 2000 and that bodies had been moved in that pickup truck. DNA analysis of the pickup truck showed that in the bed of the pickup truck was blood of Andrew Cataldi.

Detectives also advised Hull that they were aware that he and Sarah Pender had gone to a South US 31 Wal-Mart, where a 12-gauge shotgun had been purchased on the morning of October 24, 2000 just hours before the victims were shot with a shotgun.

Richard Hull was observed by the clerk obtaining ammunition brought to the counter and paid for by Ms. Pender. The ammunition was 12-gauge deer slugs. Ms. Nordman was shot twice with a 12-gauge deer slug and both Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman were shot with a shotgun.

Hull told law enforcement officers that his sister, Tabitha, owed Andrew Cataldi money, that he and Andrew got into an argument that night, and that argument occurred just moments before the shooting in the house.

Charges and trial

Court proceedings

Sarah Pender went on trial at Marion Superior Court in July 2002. She was represented by attorney James Nave.

The judge was Jane Magnus-Simpson. The prosecutor was Larry Sells.

Larry Sells was described as a republican candidate who had just been defeated when he ran for office to become Hamilton County Prosecutor, had campaigned stressing tough sentencing, was favourable to the death penalty, and believed trials should result in convictions in more than 75% of cases.

Neither Sarah Pender nor Richard Hull testified at trial.

Evidence against Sarah Pender

The jury heard evidence that Sarah Pender had bought the murder weapon on the morning of the murders and helped Richard Hull dispose of the bodies. The prosecutor told the jury that she had planned the murders and manipulated Richard Hull into committing them.

Indianapolis Star journalist Vic Ryckaert said Larry Sells “likened her influence over Hull to the control Manson had over his followers, who committed a string of murders in 1969.”

Letter allegedly taken responsibility

A letter allegedly sent to Richard Hull by Pender in May 2001 was presented. Sarah Pender and her supporters said it was manufactured evidence against her by Hull to shift responsibility.

The prosecutor relied chiefly on the letter and testimony from inmate Floyd Pennington.

In the letter, Pender allegedly wrote:

“I wish I could go back and change the events of that night,” said the letter. “Drew was so mean that night. I just snapped. I didn't mean to kill them. It must have been the acid.[...]
When you said you would try to take the blame, I knew then that you loved me deeply. At first I thought you would tell, but you stuck to your promise.”

The letter ended with a postscript: “Destroy this.”

Forensic Document Examiner Lee Ann Harmless testified the letter had been written by Pender.

Defense attorney James Nave said the letter was a fake, arguing that Sarah Pender was no “clever criminal mastermind” and that the murder “was not a cleverly planned criminal act. It was an act of the moment.”

Testimony of Floyd Pennington

The trial also included testimony from fellow inmate Floyd Pennington. He had a pen relationship with Sarah Pender for several months.

Pennington testified that Pender admitted her responsibility in the double homicide during a meeting arranged on September 22, 2001 at Wishard Hospital.

Sarah Pender said that Floyd Pennington was a liar.

Sentencing

On August 22, 2002, Sarah Pender was found guilty and sentenced to 110 years in prison. Richard Hull pleaded guilty to avoid trial and was sentenced to 130 years.

At sentencing, Richard Hull’s line of defense was that he had been influenced by Sarah Pender at the time of the murder, which the court considered as a mitigating factor.

Appeals and related proceedings

Sarah Pender submitted a petition for writ of Habeas Corpus in April 2007. On September 5, 2008, her petition was dismissed.

She later wrote:

“Once my appeals were exausted [ sic ], I had no hope left and I chose to create my own justice. I served the equivalent of 21 years of my sentence and I felt that was enough. I escape because I felt justified in doing so.”

On May 4, 2004, when Richard Hull appeared for re-sentencing, the court found as an aggravating factor the notarized affidavit in which he admitted the forgery, since it contradicted his earlier testimonies.

The court found “an additional aggravating factor, which [arose since the original sentencing], which, actually, is very serious. [Hull] appears to have committed perjury in an effort to help his co-defendant manipulate her way out of a criminal conviction for [the] very serious offenses of murder.”

Outcome and aftermath

Escape and recapture

Sarah Pender escaped from Rockville Correctional Facility on August 4, 2008.

She was recaptured on December 2, 2008.

Individuals associated with the escape

The escape was described as being aided by prison guard Scott Spitler Sr. and former cellmate Jamie Long.

At the time of the escape, Scott Spitler had been a corrections officer at Rockville Correctional Facility for 5 years. The previous month, he had been placed in a pre-trial diversion program for a misdemeanor charge of battery.

Scott Spitler was described as having an on-going relationship with Sarah Pender behind bars.

Jamie Long was 41 years old and married to Larry Long. The record described her criminal history as including two felonies and 12 to 15 other convictions.

It described that both women met in 2001 while they were inmates at Marion County Jail, formed an intimate relationship, and Long referred to Pender as her “wife” while they served time at Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. After her release, Long frequently visited Pender.

Escape circumstances and subsequent charges

Sarah Pender reportedly planned her escape in the days or weeks before it happened with a cell-phone provided to her by Scott Spitler.

On August 4, 2008, Sarah Pender went to the facility’s gymnasium where she changed clothes, hiding her prison uniform above the ceiling’s tiling and putting on civilian clothes that Spitler also had given to her.

She then walked toward the fueling area where they had agreed to meet. Spitler told her to get in the van and hide under the seat, which she did. He then drove to the prison's gate where he knew, out of experience, that the guard would not search his vehicle. Spitler dropped off Pender at one of the facility's parking lot, where Jamie Long picked her up, gave her $140, and drove her to Indianapolis.

After an inmate count, it appeared that Pender was missing. The prison was put on maximum security lock down. Investigators identified Spitler as Pender's accomplice after viewing video surveillance tapes and consulting the guardshack log.

Spitler was arrested on August 5, 2008 and charged with assisting a criminal, official misconduct, sexual misconduct and trafficking with an inmate. In February 2009, he was sentenced to 8 years in jail.

Jamie Long was arrested on August 7, 2008 after Spitler denounced her to investigators as the person who had picked up Pender. She was charged with aiding an escape, a class C felony, and sentenced to 7 years in jail.

Publicity and later identification

In September 2008, America’s Most Wanted began to run a feature on Sarah Pender. In October 2008, she was added to the US Marshals 15 most wanted fugitives list, described as her being the only woman on the list at the time.

Sarah Pender settled in a North Side Chicago neighborhood under the name Ashley Thompson. She found a job as an estimator for a contractor and described living as an employee in her blog “the Long way Home”.

On December 22, 2008, two hours after a rerun of America’s Most Wanted, her neighbor identified her and called the Chicago police, which arrested her at her apartment. Although she denied being Sarah Pender for a little while, she did not resist arrest.

After her arrest, Sarah Pender was held in Solitary Confinement at the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. The punishment was described as arbitrarily prolonged by the Indiana Department of Correction with no set date for her release back into general population. She was kept under observation and had no contact with other inmates.

Her current release date from jail was described as April 4, 2054, when she would be 75 years old.

Media comparison and labelled influence

During her 2002 trial, Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Sells likened Sarah Pender to a “Female Charles Manson” to describe her alleged influence over Richard Hull.

Supporters said this comparison was inappropriate and claimed Sarah Pender did not plan, commit, or pressure Richard Hull into murdering Tricia Nordman and Andrew Cataldi.

The record also said that during Pender’s escape, Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss told the media that Spender had “Manipulated him to the point where [he had planned his day] to get a vehicule inside the facility and take her outside the facility.”

Detectives said she had seduced and then coerced Spitler into helping her escape.

In an America’s Most Wanted interview, Larry Sells said:

“Lurking within is a dark evil demon [...] she has the ability to seduce people into committing atrocious acts [...] she has a Charles Manson-like ability to manipulate people.”

The record described the America’s Most Wanted website’s depiction of her as labelling her a “cunning and dangerous fugitive” and asking viewers to call “before she has the opportunity to kill again.”

It further said the website precised that “Pender used her body to get what she desired most -- Freedom” and that the show talked about “her manipulative ways”.

Sarah Pender wrote:

“the media, including "America's Most Wanted", has selectively used facts in order to manipulate the viewers to believe I am a degenerate, dangerous criminal in return for sensational story and higher ratings under the guise of bringing justice.”

Supporters claimed Scott Spitler was expecting a $15000 payment for his services, and that this was not reported during or around the escape or Spitler’s trial.

Other details

Richard Hull’s affidavit and handwriting disputes

The letter’s authenticity was disputed.

The record said Richard Hull, in a signed affidavit, recanted and admitted the letter was a forgery. It said he explained that while detained at Marion County Jail, he showed samples of Pender’s handwriting to fellow inmate Steve Logan and asked him to write the letter because Logan wrote more like a female. It said the deal was that Richard Hull would provide protection for Steve Logan, described as a small white guy on the cell block. It said Hull’s goal was to get a shorter sentence and walk home.

It stated that fingerprints from both Hull and Steve Logan were found on the letter, but not those of Sarah Pender. Detective Kenneth Martinez could not find a sealed envelope to match the letter. It said most of the eighty letters sent by Pender to Hull were in cursive writing, while the alleged self-incriminating letter was printed.

It said Steve Logan stopped short of admitting he wrote the May 16, 2001 letter, but testified that Hull showed him letters written by Pender and also asked him to write some sort of letter to reduce his charges or sentence. It said Logan claimed he did not.

It said on another occasion, according to Pender, Steve Logan admitted to a private investigator hired by Pender that Richard Hull had requested that the forged letter be written.

It said between the alleged redaction time of Pender’s letter (May 16, 2001) and the time it was given by Hull’s attorney (September–October 2001) pursuant to a search warrant, Detective Kenneth Martinez ceased jail correspondence between Hull and Pender on July 17, 2001, and did not find the May 16 letter even though Hull allegedly kept it during all that time. Supporters said the reason was that the forged letter had not yet been written.

Floyd Pennington’s background and supporters’ claims

The record said Floyd Pennington was an habitual offender and violent felon waiting for sentencing over robbery, and had a previous record for child molesting with a five-year sentence in 1989.

On September 20, 2001, he met with detective Kenneth Martinez, saying he could arrange a meeting and have Pender admit her responsibility for the murders. It said he had been involved in correspondence with Pender totaling at the time 75 letters and that it had evolved into a long distance love relationship.

After his meeting with detective Kenneth Martinez, he wrote to Sarah Pender at which date she should fake being sick to be sent to Wishard Hospital.

On September 22, he faked having a kidney problem and met as planned at the hospital. On September 28, 2010, Pennington gave a statement describing a three to four hour discussion with Pender and said Pender admitted planning the murder, coercing Hull to kill both Cataldi and Nordman, and being present in the house at the time of the murders.

Supporters said Pennington decided to make a statement against Pender at the end of September just before he was due to be sentenced, and just as Richard Hull decided to provide Pender’s alleged self-incriminating letter to Detective Kenneth Martinez. The record said Pennington had been incarcerated in the same cell block as Richard Hull for two months, and supporters believed he saw an opportunity for a false testimony.

Crime-related travel and later activities (as described)

On October 25, 2000, Sarah Pender went to work as usual while Richard Hull borrowed a plug adapter from neighbor Jana Frederick to clean up the blood in the house.

On October 26, the couple went to Noblesville to bring the truck back to its owner, and the home of which Richard Hull burned several blood stained items.

On October 27, 2000, Hull was arrested in Noblesville and admitted he committed both murders.

On October 26, detectives searched Hull and Pender’s house after they identified the victims.

Book and media features

A book on her escape, Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender, was released June 7, 2011. The book was written by Steve Miller and described as criticized as inaccurate and deliberately quoting key documents in a misleading way.

In April 2011, Sarah and her family and friends launched a Mail-Art Project “Send us YOUR Hand” under the organization “Art for Humanity” to raise support and help Pender remain connected to the outside world while she was in solitary confinement since 2008.

On April 1, 2012, her case was profiled on an episode of the Oxygen TV Series “Snapped”, described as featuring interviews of Sarah Jo Pender and her relatives, as well as those of many persons involved in the case.