CROWN POINT, Ind. — A former Marine who admitted to killing seven women in a plea deal with Indiana prosecutors has been sentenced to seven life sentences.
Darren Vann was to be tried in October in the strangulation deaths of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy of Hammond, and 35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Vann in their deaths.
In entering the plea deal, Vann was spared a death sentence when he was sentenced Friday.
Authorities say the 47-year-old Vann preyed on women in an area of Gary, Indiana, known as a hangout for prostitutes and drug users.
Vann was arrested in October 2014 as Hammond police investigated the killing of Hardy, whose body was found in a bathtub inside a Hammond motel room.
Vann, who received an “other than honorable” discharge in 1993, moved to Gary after his July 2013 release from a Texas prison where he served time on a sexual assault charge involving a prostitute.
RELATED:
- Police: Alleged serial killer tied to seven slayings ‘basking in the glory’ and ‘reliving everything’
- Ex-wife of accused killer shocked by accusation, says he “always took care of me”
- Prosecutors seek DNA from suspect in 7 Northwest Indiana deaths
- 15 more charges filed against accused Indiana serial killer