Steven Timothy Judy was convicted of murdering Terry Lee Chasteen and her three children, Misty Ann, Steve and Mark, on April 28, 1979.
Biography
Steven Timothy Judy was born on May 24, 1956 by his mother, Myrtle, and his father, Vernon. As a child, he grew up in a horrific setting; caught in between violence, pornography, alcohol and crime. His father had a history of being arrested for assaulting his mother. One afternoon, his father caught his mother cheating on him and responded to the incident by killing the family's dog. As a result, his defense attorney, Steven L. Harris, stated, "that's all he's known since the day he was born". "'There's times when I can remember my mother pulling a gun out on my dad and trying to shoot him,'" Judy recalled. As a child, Judy was caught burning down a neighbor's garage and stabbing a classmate with a pair of compasses. When he was 10 years old, he started to pursue high school females. He would push them to the ground and molest them. At the age of 13, Judy pretended to be a Boy Scout, forced himself into a woman's home, raped her, and then tried to kill her with a pocketknife. The pocketknife broke before he could kill the woman. However, he fractured her skull and cut off one of her fingers. At the trial, Judy initially claimed he had nothing to do with it. Once the investigators brought up his past incidents, he pled insanity. He was found guilty and sentenced to six months in a juvenile detention center and was then sent to a mental hospital. At the hospital he received treatment for his diagnosis as a "sexual psychopath". Once released, Judy was placed into foster care and sent to live with Robert and Mary Carr who were uninformed about Judy's history. The primary crime Judy committed occurred when he was 23 years old. On Saturday, April 28, 1979, Terry Lee Chasteen was on her way to drop her children off at a babysitter's house before going to work. While on the road, Judy passed her car and gave her a sign that indicated that she needed to pull over. She eventually did and instantly accepted help from Judy, who she thought was just being a Good Samaritan. He told her that something was "wrong" with her tire and offered to fix it. While "fixing" her tire, he disabled her car and offered Terry and her three children a ride. He instantly drove his new passengers to White Lick Creek, where his victims were found. Once at the Creek, Judy directed the three children to a path, having them walk ahead of him and their mother, Terry. Once the children were ahead of them, Judy raped Terry, tied her hands and feet, and began choking her. Terry began screaming for help and her children ran back up to them. They screamed and cried as Judy raped her. Later that day, police officers discovered Terry and her three children, Misty, Stephen, and Mark. Evidence was found that Terry had died from being strangled, while the children were drowned. Several witnesses eventually came forward to help the police piece together who the murderer was. The arrest of Judy triggered an emotional outcry that lasted two years. He pled insanity and confessed to committing the murders. While in the "punishment phase" of the trial, Judy wanted it to be fast-paced so "he threatened the judge and jury and promised to kill again unless they sentenced him to death." The trial ended with Judy being found guilty and then executed on March 9, 1981, aged 24, in Michigan City, Indiana in the electric chair. Judy became the first person to be executed in Indiana since Richard Kiefer was executed on June 15, 1961.
