Judge moves up Indiana man's sentencing in girl's killing

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A judge has moved up an Indiana man's sentencing in the 1988 abduction, rape and killing of an 8-year-old Fort Wayne girl.

Fifty-nine-year-old John D. Miller's sentencing had been set for Dec. 31 after the Grabill man pleaded guilty to murder and child molestation in April Tinsley's slaying .

But The Journal Gazette reports Allen County Superior Court Judge John Surbeck said Tuesday he's moved Miller's sentencing to Dec. 21.

Surbeck is retiring Dec. 31 and he says he moved the sentencing to ensure that there would be no delays.

A plea agreement calls for Miller to serve 80 years in prison.

Tinsley was abducted in April 1988. Her body was found three days later in a ditch about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net