Brizzi Files Charges in Death of 12-Year-Old Girl
Jeffrey Voss charged with murder of Christina Tedder
INDIANAPOLIS--Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi announced today that he has filed charges of murder and confinement against Jeffrey Voss for the Christmas Eve murder of 12-year-old Christina Tedder.
"Christina was laid to rest this afternoon, Brizzi said. "We grieve for her, and express sorrow for her family. However, I have no sympathy for her killer. Jeffrey Voss is a vicious predator who must be permanently removed from society."
Brizzi filed one count of murder, three counts of criminal confinement (two B felonies and one C felony), one count of obstruction of justice and a count of being a habitual offender eligible for the possibility of a life sentence without parole. Voss' initial hearing will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) morning in Marion Superior Criminal Court 5.
"With convictions for the murder and habitual offender allegation," Brizzi explained, "Voss could be sentenced to life without parole under the state's habitual offender law." That law requires convictions of two additional specific unrelated felonies. Voss has a 1990 conviction in Marion County for armed robbery and criminal confinement, and a 1985 conviction in Illinois for robbery, both of which would fall under the habitual offender statute.
In addition, Brizzi explained that he will be discussing the possibility of the death penalty with the victim's family. It has been preliminarily determined that Voss is still on probation for a robbery conviction in Putnam County which occurred in 1990. An aggravating circumstance which could make the death penalty a possibility is that the defendant was on probation for the commission of a felony at the time of the murder. Paperwork from the Putnam County Probation Department indicates that to be the situation in Voss' case. "In keeping with my policy of giving the families of murder victims an opportunity to express their preferences and fully informing them of the process involved in death penalty cases, I will be deferring the death penalty decision in this case to a time when I can meet with the family to discuss it. I expect that to be at least a little while because I do not want to inappropriately intrude on their need to grieve after having just put Christina to rest today," Brizzi said.
Tedder disappeared from her home Christmas Eve after telling her brother she was going to a nearby service station. She never returned. According to the probable cause affidavit, Tedder got into Voss' car at the service station. While the two were talking, Voss hit a CD case that Tedder was holding and the case struck her in the eye. Tedder told Voss she was going to tell her mother what he had done. Voss became worried that he would get into trouble.
Voss drove Tedder to a house, located at 10516 Folsom Drive, that he was watching for friends while they were on vacation. During the trip, he handcuffed Tedder's hands in front of her. When they arrive, he took her into a bedroom and wrapped her mouth with duct tape. He forced her on her stomach and strangled her with a vacuum cleaner cord until she stopped breathing. Voss took the body to a creek in Hancock County where it was later discovered.
An autopsy determined that she had been strangled.
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