April Tinsley:1988, Fort Wayne, Indiana

   

   In 1988 on April 1st, eight year old April Tinsley was playing with a friend in their Ft. Wayne. The two had started playing at one house and gone to another. April had forgotten her umbrella and at around 3 p.m. went to quickly retrieve it. She never returned. Her friends and family searched immediately. They called the police. This was the late 1980’s and police were more aware that time was of the essence. Despite thorough searches and media attention; they could find no traces of April Tinsley.  

  On April 4th, 1988, a jogger found the body of the second grader near Spencerville, Indiana. April Tinsley had been sexually assaulted and strangled. A shopping bag was found near the site containing a sex toy and one of April’s shoes. 

   A devastated community who had been hoping and desperately searching then came together to mourn the loss of this child. For so many people, this was the end of feeling safe in their Northern Indiana neighborhoods. 

   Over the years, after April’s murder, a series of taunting notes would turn up. The notes seemed to be written by the killer. Were these notes just a hoax or were they genuine confessions written by the killer? 

  One note appeared scratched onto the side of a barn not long after April was killed. 

   In 2004, one little girl found a note in her bicycle basket. The writer of the note claimed to have killed April Tinsley. The note claimed that this little girl would be next. The girl’s mother thought someone must be joking. She showed the note to friends and family and someone suggested that she turn it over to the police. 

   April Tinsley had not been forgotten. Police were still very actively working her case. They had not given up. 

   A DNA profile of April’s killer was developed in recent years at Parabon Nanolabs. But the killer’s DNA was not coming up in any DNA databases. So, investigators had to search a different way. Genetic genealogy then narrowed down the suspects to two brothers. 

   DNA from the suspect’s trash was collected. 

  John D. Miller, a Walmart employee, would eventually be arrested in 2018 and convicted of the murder of April Tinsley. When investigators approached him for questioning and asked if he knew why they were talking to him, he answered “April Tinsley”.  He confessed to abducting,raping and strangling her in his trailer. 

  John D. Miller is currently incarcerated for April Tinsley’s murder serving a sentence of 80 years.