Indiana Parole Board hears testimony on clemency for man scheduled for Nov. 5 execution

Jeffrey Weisheit set his house on fire in 2010, killing his girlfriend’s two young children he was watching.

The Indiana Parole Board will now make a recommendation in the coming days to Governor Mike Braun on whether to grant clemency to condemned killer Jeffrey Weisheit.

Jeffrey is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 5 for the 2010 murder of his girlfriend's 2 children in Vanderburgh County.

The 5-member Indiana Parole Board spent Monday listening to testimony for and against clemency at the Indiana Government Center. Jeffrey’s attorneys present their case for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison during two hours of morning testimony.

His attorneys say Jeffrey suffers from brain damage and mental illness that should stop the state from executing him.

Several family members spoke to the board, including Jeffrey’s parents and sister, Carrie Jones.

Jones said she fears her brother’s execution would also kill her parents.

"I think it's going to kill my dad because he's just got a weak heart,” said Jones. “As strong as he's always been as a Christian and a police officer, this has weakened him. I just don't want to lose them either. But I'm going to lose everybody if this goes through."

"I just can't see that they would put him to death,” said Susan Weisheit, Jeffrey’s mother. “I just couldn't bear it."

Jeffrey Weisheit's family asks the Indiana Parole Board to change his sentence to life in prison.

"It's going to affect me,” said Bert Weisheit, Jeffrey’s father. “I may not be showing the emotion that Susan is. I'm trying to stay strong. It probably will affect me more as we approach the date. I love my son. I loved those children too. Caleb and Alyssa were great children."

Deacon Brian Nosbusch, who has spent more than a decade visiting Jeffrey on death row, told the board that Jeffrey has demonstrated a genuine Catholic faith in prison.

"I have seen a deep remorse that goes far beyond regret for the consequences that he faced, and I believe it was a true commitment to moral repair and reconciliation,” said Nosbusch.

On Monday afternoon, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office presented much different arguments in their case against clemency. Testimony from attorneys, law enforcement, firefighters, a medical examiner, and the victims’ mother described how Jeffrey carried out the crime against his girlfriend’s children, ages 8 and 5.

Jeffrey set his own house on fire with Alyssa and Caleb Lynch inside, then drove away. He was supposed to be watching the children while their mother was working an overnight shift.

Evidence showed that Jeffrey bound Caleb with duct tape, stuffed a washrag in his mouth, put a flare in his pajama pants, then lit it. Other flares were found near the boy’s body. Investigators believe the flare set a mattress on fire, and the entire house was soon engulfed in flames. Alyssa was apparently asleep. She was found in the ashes in a closet, likely where she tried to escape the smoke.

The children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, testified by video conference.

Jeffrey Weisheit answers questions during his Oct. 16, 2026, clemency hearing at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

"When Alyssa and Caleb were taken from me, my entire life was shattered in an instant,” said Lynch. “My children were my home, and when they were stolen from me, that home was destroyed."

The children’s father, Lisa’s ex-husband Steven Lynch, submitted a signed affidavit saying he forgives Weisheit and asking for a life without parole sentence.

But Lisa asked for the execution to be carried out as scheduled.

"Clemency is meant for those who show genuine remorse and hold true value for human life,” said Lisa. “Nothing, nothing about the murder of my children showed mercy, humanity, or remorse. As their mother, it's my duty to protect and stand up for them.”

Several people involved in the original investigation in 2010 testified how they will never forget this disturbing case and the deep impact it had on the Evansville community.

“The jury recommended the death sentence, and let's put him to death on Nov. 5,” said Randy Chapman, a detective on the case. “That's where he belongs."

Also on Monday, a small group of opponents of the death penalty, organized by the Indiana Abolition Coalition, held a news conference outside the Indiana Government Center asking for the Indiana Supreme Court to delay the execution date by 2 weeks and allow Jeffrey to get MRI and PET brain scans. His attorneys believe expert analysis of those scans could give Governor Braun valuable information in deciding on clemency.

That group is also calling on Governor Braun to put a pause on all executions after the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee in September. Indiana uses the same execution drug, pentobarbital, as Tennessee. The governor of Tennessee has paused executions in that state through the end of the year.

Jeffrey's execution would be the 4h in Indiana in the past 2 years.

Source: WTHR13News, Staff, October 21, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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