In autumn 2009 in Bluffton, Indiana, 27-year-old Tyler White confronted his estranged wife, 28-year-old Amy White, at her parents’ home the day before a provisional custody hearing for their young son, Max. During the argument Tyler shot Amy twice in the abdomen. Paramedics found Amy with no pulse and she could not be resuscitated. She was eleven or twelve weeks pregnant and the fetus also died. Max was present at the scene when his mother was killed.

Tyler White was arrested by the Wells County Sheriff’s Department. He told investigators he had acted in self-defense, saying Amy had pointed a gun at him. Prosecutors charged him with murder, the jury rejected his self-defense claim and convicted him of Amy’s murder. In a separate phase the jury found his actions caused the death of the unborn child. The judge sentenced Tyler White to a total of seventy years in prison.