In the fall of 2014, 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy, an African American woman, was found deceased in a Motel 6 in Hammond, Indiana. She had recently relocated to the Chicago area after her high school graduation. On the evening of October 17, 2014, an associate who had arranged a meeting for Hardy at the motel grew concerned after receiving nonsensical text messages from her phone. The associate and a male friend went to the motel to check on her, where they made a grim discovery.
Hardy’s body was in the bathtub; she had been strangled to death.
The investigation into her death quickly led police to a suspect. Using Hardy's phone records, authorities identified 43-year-old Darren Deon Vann. When police apprehended Vann the next day, he was in possession of Hardy’s cell phone. During interrogation, he confessed to killing Hardy, telling investigators he had first choked her with his hands and then with a cord before moving her body to the bathtub. He also expressed surprise at how quickly he had been found, stating he 'messed up' by committing the crime in Hammond.
Vann's confession, however, did not end with the murder of Afrikka Hardy. He shocked investigators by admitting to the murders of six other women. Over the following days, he led authorities to various abandoned houses in Gary, Indiana, where the bodies of his other victims were recovered. The victims were identified as Anith Jones, Teaira Batey, Kristine Williams, Tracy Martin, Sonya Billingsley, and Tanya Gatlin. Vann, a convicted sex offender with a prior conviction in Texas, told police his crimes could date back as far as two decades.
Initially, Vann pleaded not guilty to the murders of Afrikka Hardy and Anith Jones. Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty for the deaths of Hardy and Jones. However, on May 4, 2018, Vann entered into a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the murders of all seven women. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped the request for the death penalty. On May 25, 2018, Darren Deon Vann was sentenced to seven concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole.
