Woman sentenced in Birdseye murder

Friday, an Eckerty woman, Sarah Andry, was sentenced to 55 years at the Indiana Department of Correction.

Andry, accused of killing her fiancé, Darin Atkins, was convicted of Aiding Murder and Aggravated Battery on September 29 following a trial in the Dubois Circuit Court. Andry was sentenced to 55 years on the Aiding
Murder count and nine years on the Aggravated Battery count to run concurrently.

The investigation into Atkins’s death began on July 19, 2017 when Dubois County dispatch received a 911 call from Andry advising that she had found Darin Atkins deceased at his residence located at 3543 S. Harts Gravel Road in Birdseye. Andry told dispatch it appeared Atkins had been beaten with a bat.

Police and medical personnel responded to the scene and confirmed the violent death of Atkins.

During the investigation, officers interviewed Andry multiple times. Investigators also recovered extensive digital evidence, including information from the cell phones of Andry and other witnesses, and video and location information from businesses and other buildings near the crime scene. In her interviews, Andry gave multiple varying accounts of what occurred, and her accounts differed from facts established with the digital and video evidence.

Investigators also interviewed Jason Atkins on multiple occasions, who was also in a relationship with Andry. Jason Atkins eventually advised that he and Andry went to the victim’s residence on the morning of July 19, 2017. Jason stated that when they arrived, Andry went into the residence first, then he followed a few minutes later. Jason said he got into a confrontation with the victim and struck him once in the head with a baseball bat. Jason stated that Andry then took the bat and struck the victim twice more before he and Andry left the residence.

Pathologist, Dr. James Jacobi, determined that the manner of death was a homicide, and the cause of death of Mr. Atkins was multiple blunt force injuries to the head.

During one of the interviews police conducted with Andry they left her in the interview room alone for a few minutes with the video recording equipment still running. On the recording, Andry can be heard saying, “my God, what have I d….”

Dubois County Prosecutor, Anthony Quinn, is satisfied with the sentence his office obtained in the case. “Such a heinous and senseless crime calls for a lengthy sentence like we received here,” said Quinn. “Again, I want to thank our community of law enforcement officers here in Dubois County for their fine work in this case. We will continue to work in collaboration for the safety and security of the people of Dubois County.”