IN MERCEDES LAIN: Missing from Mishawaka, IN - 14 Aug 2021 - Age 11 months *Found Deceased**GUILTY PLEA*

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FBI joins search for missing 11-month-old in Indiana; parents charged​

The parents of a missing 11-month-old girl in Indiana have been taken into custody, police said Tuesday.

Plymouth Police Chief David Bacon said at a news conference that Kenneth Lain and Tiffany Coburn were being charged with neglect of a dependent.

The FBI is now assisting in the search for Mercedes Lain, WNDU reported.

She is described as a white female, 2 feet tall and 19 pounds with blonde hair with brown eyes. She was last seen at 12:30 a.m. Saturday in Mishawaka, Indiana, wearing a white onesie with pink trim, the FBI Indianapolis office said on Twitter.

Plymouth Police Chief David Bacon said the man she had last been seen with, 37-year-old Justin Miller, is in custody and also charged with neglect of a dependent. Police said Miller is a family friend and was supposed to babysit Mercedes for a few days.

Mercedes was reported missing by her father Sunday night, and a statewide Silver Alert was issued. Miller and his vehicle were found in Starke County at 3:30 a.m. Monday.

Police believe Mercedes could be in the Marshall County area, but there is no sign of where exactly she might be.

“We’re just asking if anybody knows anything or if you have her, please bring her home or take her somewhere where she can be brought home,” said Stacy Milton, Mercedes’ aunt. “Please, we’re asking for your guys’ help.”

She is believed to be in extreme danger and may require medical assistance, according to the Silver Alert. Michiana Crime Stoppers has offered a reward of up to $1,000 for anyone who has information that could lead to finding her.


 
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Parents of 11-month-old baby permitted to attend her funeral
The parents of Mercedes Lain will be at her funeral. The 11-month-old baby will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Mercedes' parents, Tiffany Coburn and Kenneth Lain, are both in jail on neglect charges, but a judge has granted a request so they can attend the funeral.

They will be supervised by police, kept apart, and then returned to the jail.
 
Parents of 11-month-old baby permitted to attend her funeral
The parents of Mercedes Lain will be at her funeral. The 11-month-old baby will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Mercedes' parents, Tiffany Coburn and Kenneth Lain, are both in jail on neglect charges, but a judge has granted a request so they can attend the funeral.

They will be supervised by police, kept apart, and then returned to the jail.
And hopefully they will see and feel the disgust felt towards them there.
 

Miller enters not guilty plea in Mercedes Lain death; questions remain over jurisdiction​

There’s difference of opinion on where the man accused of dumping the body of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain should stand trial.

Justin Miller made his first court appearance today and is facing one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

The big issue centers on where 11-month-old Mercedes Lain was killed. The coroner ruled her death a homicide yesterday, but if she was killed outside of Marshall County, there would be some jurisdictional issues.

Justin Miller made his first court appearance this morning by video-teleconference. He entered a preliminary plea of not guilty and was appointed a public defender.

The charges against Miller were expected to be upgraded after a pathologist found her cause of death to be blunt force injuries to the head and ruled it a homicide.

However, Prosecutor Nelson Chipman says there are some jurisdictional issues that have to be worked out.
They’ll figure it out. The same questions have arisen in other cases, like the McStay case.
 

Prosecutor seeks habitual offender status for Mercedes Lain's mother​

The Marshall County Prosecutor's Office is seeking habitual offender status for Tiffany Coburn, the mother of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain.

Coburn is facing one count of neglect of a dependent.

If she is convicted, habitual offender status could lead to a longer sentence.
 
So now my biggest question is....why did this POS have this baby? Yeah, they say so they could "have a few days break". But I'm not really convinced it was just some innocent "babysitting".



I'll watch your baby for drugs? Sounds awfully familiar.

Will be interested to see what additional charges follow. Child neglect, and Neglect resulting in death charges are not enough.


she is the cutest ever little girl..... It breaks my heart.. I don't want and can't imagine what this precious girl went through.. I just hope and pray that she was spared of the unthinkable... unfortunately I have the feeling that she would have gotten exploited later.... the mom didn't seem to be able too stand up against this guy ....

I just want to hold this little angel to my heart..... this just makes me cry..... Rest in Peace and run free little angel.....
 

Neglect charges dropped in Marshall County in Mercedes Lain case​

The case of a man charged with murder in one county in the death of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain has been dismissed in another county.

Justin Miller was first charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death in Marshall County, but those charges were dropped Tuesday. Miller is currently being held in the Starke County Jail on a murder charge filed by the Starke County prosecutor. This means the case will only be handled as a Starke County murder case.
 

Neglect charges dropped in Marshall County in Mercedes Lain case​

The case of a man charged with murder in one county in the death of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain has been dismissed in another county.

Justin Miller was first charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death in Marshall County, but those charges were dropped Tuesday. Miller is currently being held in the Starke County Jail on a murder charge filed by the Starke County prosecutor. This means the case will only be handled as a Starke County murder case.


is that good or bad.....?
 

Prosecutor’s office offers plea agreement to Justin Miller in death of Mercedes Lain​

The man who allegedly killed 11-month-old Mercedes Lain in August has accepted a plea agreement, according to court records.

Miller will be in court on Monday for a hearing on the plea agreement.

The details of the plea agreement have not been released.

The plea agreement will not be official until it is accepted by the court.
 

Justin Miller pleads guilty to murder of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain​

Justin Miller has pleaded guilty to murder in the August death of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain, according to court records.

Miller, 37, appeared in court on Monday afternoon, where he pleaded guilty to a murder charge as part of a plea agreement.

The plea agreement leaves sentencing to the discretion of the court. The sentencing for murder in Indiana is a minimum of 45 years and a maximum of 65 years.

The judge still has to accept or reject the plea. This will be done at the sentencing hearing.

Miller’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 18.


Family of Mercedes Lain upset over Justin Miller plea agreement​

Justin Miller-- the man accused of killing 11-month old Mercedes Lain, has been offered a plea agreement from the Starke County Prosecutor's Office. ABC57 does not know the details of the agreement just yet, as it's a locked document, according to the Starke County Clerk's Office, but Mercedes Lain's family doesn't want to see any agreement between Miller and the Prosecutor's Office.

Miller's plea agreement still has to be approved by the judge hearing his case, but Mercedes's grandmother, Angela Owens, says she feels blindsided by the agreement.

“It’s just not good enough to plea out like that," said Owens. "I just can’t see how the court’s going to accept a plea from him.”


Angela Owens is shocked that a plea agreement is on the table.

“I’m blown away, I don’t understand how," she said. "I guess for him, maybe a plea might be good, but a plea is just not good for us.”

And Owens herself said she wasn't even informed about the agreement-- she only just found out the morning before it was announced it court.

“I wish somebody would’ve let me know instead of getting on MyCase this morning at 5:30 and finding it on MyCase,” she said.

Owens hopes the judge reconsiders.

“I’d let him know that [Miller's] taken a big part of our life away. He’s taken—my other grandchildren, he’s taken their sibling away. Please think of that before the sentencing," she said.

Owens feels that any sort of plea agreement would not adequately serve justice for baby Mercedes.

“I feel that he needs longer," said Owens. "I mean, an innocent child. My innocent grandchild. How could you just do that and expect, okay, you do forty-five years and get out and you’re fine? Where’s my baby at? Where’s her time? Where’s her life?”
 

'An act as bad as a human can commit:' Plymouth man who killed toddler gets maximum sentence​

Heinous. Horrendous. Horrible. Unspeakable. Hard to comprehend.

Those are the words Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall used to describe the murder of 11-month-old Mercedes Lain at the hands of Justin Miller before sentencing him Tuesday to 65 years in prison.

“What you did on this day when you killed this baby was an act that is as bad as a human can commit,” Hall said.

As Hall issued the sentence and Miller was led away, members of Mercedes' family cried and hugged in the gallery of the court room.


Kenneth Lain and Tiffany Coburn are set for hearings this week on child neglect charges. Lain intends to file a plea agreement, records show.
 

Both parents of Mercedes Lain expected to plead guilty​

Child neglect cases against the parents of Mercedes Lain, an 11-month-year old who police found dead in a wooded area on the border Starke and Marshall Counties, are wrapping up.

Mercedes’ mother, Tiffany Coburn is expected to plead guilty. The father, Kenneth Lain plead guilty during his hearing on Thursday. All that’s left for the courts are sentencing hearings.

Lain and Coburn both face just one count of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony that carries a maximum sentence of 2.5 years in prison.

During Lain’s hearing, he admitted to using drugs the day he left Mercedes in the care of a friend, Justin Miller, who is now serving a 65-year prison sentence for murdering the 11-month-old.

Lain also admitted to having drugs and paraphernalia in his hotel room where Mercedes was often present.

He’ll have a new public defender at his Feb. 18th sentencing with his current one retiring.

Lain says he doesn’t plan on having any witnesses testify during that hearing.

While Coburn’s case was scheduled as a status conference, the discussion mainly focused on her plans to plead guilty.

Her attorney presented a signed plea agreement with similar terms to Lain’s deal.

Coburn will be back in court on Feb. 25th to not only enter a guilty plea but also for her sentencing hearing.
 

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