The Murder of Amy Weidner
WARNING, this case talks about sexual assault. For this case I watched an episode of Unusual Suspects. They don’t have all the seasons on Discovery Plus, but this is season 6 episode 2, titled ‘High School Homicide.’
A young 16 year old girl was murdered in her own home when she stayed home from school, and it would take many years to solve her murder.
Background
Amy Weidner
Amy Weidner was a 16 year old high school student, living in Indianapolis, Indiana with her mom, two sisters and brother. She came from a very loving and supportive family, which is good considering Amy got pregnant at 14 and decided to raise her daughter Emily.
Amy told her mom that she wasn’t going to drop out of school just because she had extra responsibilities. She proved that she could be an amazing mom and student, as she made the honor roll. She was a very popular student, but didn’t have time to socialize like most teenagers.
The Murder
On November 13, 1989, Amy told her mom, Gloria that she wasn’t feeling well and so she decided to stay home from school. She also said she would look after her almost two year daughter, as well.
Amy and Emily
Gloria tried calling Amy and was getting no answer. She decided to leave work because she wasn’t getting any answer and was worried. She returned home to find Emily, Amy’s daughter walking around upstairs. She was confused as to where Amy was, and then found a horrific scene.
Gloria found Amy laying on her bed, dead. She called 911. The police arrived and found a bloody scene. Amy had lacerations to her head, her clothing was ripped and they found blood spatter and a palm print on Amy’s wall.
Amy had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted. Amy also had defensive wounds, so she did fight back but unfortunately, she had been overpowered.
The police also said that the crime scene was very messy, so they collected hairs and DNA, hoping the killer’s DNA would be somewhere in that room.
What was the true motive?
The police’s first theory was a robbery gone wrong. Amy’s family determined that there were a few things missing. Amy had been saving money for her band at school, and had kept a jar filled with money. A stereo that belonged to Amy’s brother was also missing.
The police did determine that their was no forced entry, and the back door was believed to be where the killer came in. They started thinking that Amy knew her killer because it was overkill and seemed passionate.
Suspects
There were quite a few suspects in this case. Amy’s brother always had friends over and the police believed it could have been someone who had knowledge of the Weidner’s routines, and maybe didn’t know Amy was going to be home that day if the robbery theory was the real motive.
The first suspect was Tony Abercrombie, he was the father of Emily. He was ruled out very fast and had nothing but good things to say about Amy.
The next suspect was Troy Jackson. He lived close to the Weidner family, and somehow had knowledge about the stolen stereo. The police brought him in for questioning and asked him to take a polygraph, which he passed. He wasn’t immediately cleared, but the police looked into other suspects.
A Weird but Interesting Lead
Amy’s case went cold, and didn’t have any information until 2002.
The police received a tip from a man who had lived across the street from Amy, and was 16 at the time Amy was killed. This person told the police that he had “dreams” of what happened to Amy, and that she was communicating with him. He had knowledge of what happened to her and details of the crime scene.
This man was described as having a learning disability, and was home on the day Amy was killed. He apparently had an “episode” at school and left early.
The DNA from Amy’s case had been preserved and by 2002, the testing of DNA had improved. They had taken DNA from this man, and it was not a match to the crime scene. He was ruled out. The other previous suspects were also ruled out. The police were back to square one again, and had no leads.
2011
By 2011, a new investigator had taken over Amy’s case. His name was Sgt. Detective William Carter, he was not a homicide detective but a nuisance abatement officer. This means he would report codes that businesses were violating, like fire codes, building codes, etc.
Det. Carter started going back through Amy’s case, looking through the funeral book and Amy’s new Facebook memorial page looking for any signs of strange messages.
He came up with about six suspects, and started interviewing people around the area seeing if they knew anything about Amy’s case.
One neighbor gave him a name that had never come up before, a person that was very familiar to the Weidner family. A man named Rodney Denk.
Rodney Denk
Rodney Denk
Rodney was now 42 years old, but in 1989, he was an 18 year old and frequent visitor at Amy’s. He was good friends with Amy’s brother.
Rodney also was NEVER a suspect, and was never mentioned to anyone until years later. He even still lived in the area, and Sgt. Carter called him and wanted to speak to him. They made a plan to meet, but when that day came Rodney didn’t show up.
Sgt. Carter went to Rodney’s, and his wife said Rodney was gone. He was on the run.
However, Sgt. Carter went back to the palm print and looked to see if Rodney had a criminal record. He did in fact, he had been arrested for battery in 1991. They compared his prints and palm print to the crime scene and it was a match.
Sgt. Carter was stunned and now they just needed to find Rodney.
Justice for Amy
Rodney had rented a car to escape from police, but his rental car had OnStar, so they were able to track him down.
Rodney had gone to visit a friend, and when the police tried to arrest him, he pulled out a knife and cut his wrist. It was badly cut, but they did tase him because he kept fighting.
Rodney Denk was finally arrested.
Conviction
In 2012, just ten days before his trial was going to begin, Rodney took a plea deal. Rodney pleaded guilty to the murder and rape of Amy and was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
The theory is that Rodney saw the money that Amy had been collecting and wanted it for himself. He knew or thought that everyone would be at school or work that day, and he entered through the back door. However, Amy stayed home that day and she was killed because she ruined his plan and could identify him. He killed Amy and still took the money and the stereo and went undetected for years.
Rodney also said he had no idea Emily was in the house.
He never showed any emotion and the police said he stared blankly at them when he was at the police station.
Rodney being questioned by police.
Other
In 2009, Dillon, Rodney’s son was arrested for killing his mom, a woman named Mary McHenry.
He killed his mom when he was 17 and he murdered her with a baseball bat. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to 2o years in prison.
THE DENK MEN ARE MONSTERS, HOLY SHIT. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess.
Dillon Denk
FINAL THOUGHTS
I didn’t realize until after I watched the episode that I have heard about it before and even watched the 48 Hours on it. It’s such a tragic case because Amy was in her own house with her daughter and was killed. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it feels weird to say that because SHE WAS IN HER OWN HOME. Truly, she wasn’t in the wrong place, Rodney was. He never should have been there, and he killed Amy over money and a stereo.
The Denk’s should rot in prison and never get out!!! 20 years is a light sentence for beating someone with a baseball bat, hopefully he never gets out because I feel like either of these men would kill again.
Sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-weidner-cold-case-a-familys-quest-for-justice/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rodney-denk-charged-murder-16-year-old-amy-weidner-1989_n_1648872
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuisance_abatement
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-amy-weidner-murder-bringing-a-killer-to-justice/22/
