Hobart man gets 65 years for female co-worker's slaying

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) - A northwestern Indiana judge sentenced a man to the maximum 65 years in prison Thursday for fatally stabbing a female bartender at the tavern where he worked as a bouncer.

A Porter County jury in November found Christopher Dillard, 53, of Hobart guilty of murder in the slaying of 23-year-old Nicole Gland. The Portage woman was stabbed more than 20 times before her body was found in her SUV behind the Upper Deck Lounge in Chesterton in April 2017.

Prosecutors said Dillard was frustrated that Gland rebuffed his sexual advances after he delivered drugs to her.

Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer said during sentencing that Dillard had been selfish, cruel and brutal, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

"You are dangerous," the judge told him.

The Indiana Court of Appeals threw out a videotaped confession that Dillard gave shortly after his arrest because police repeatedly ignored his request for an attorney.