Andrew Cataldi, 24, and his roommate Tricia Nordman, 25, were shot and killed in Marion, Indiana, on October 24, 2000. Both victims’ bodies were later found in a dumpster behind a local union hall. At the time they were killed both Cataldi and Nordman were fugitives from a Nevada correctional facility.

Investigators focused on two housemates, Sarah Jo Pender and her boyfriend Richard Edward Hull. Hull and Cataldi had been selling drugs from the residence, and frequent arguments over money were reported. Hours before the killings, Pender purchased a 12-gauge shotgun and deer slugs; deer slugs were the same type of ammunition used in the murders. Hull told police a struggle over the shotgun led him to shoot Cataldi in the chest and then Nordman in the head and chest.

Four days later both Pender and Hull were arrested. Pender gave a full statement and surrendered a pair of Hull’s pants that later tested positive for the victims’ blood, and Cataldi’s blood was also found in the bed of a pickup Hull had borrowed. Hull pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and received a total of ninety years. Pender was convicted of two counts of murder and given 110 years. The prosecutor in Pender’s case later expressed doubts about aspects of her trial, while still saying she was not innocent of assisting after the fact.