Indiana Executes Jeffrey Weisheit for 2010 Fire Deaths of Two Children

Indiana executed Jeffrey Weisheit early Thursday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Gov. Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita confirmed, according to WTHR and 14News.

Weisheit, 50, was put to death by lethal injection for the 2010 fire deaths of Alyssa Lynch, 8, and her brother Caleb Lynch, 5, in Evansville. Braun said in a statement that state and federal courts had repeatedly reviewed the case since Weisheit’s 2013 conviction and that the Indiana Parole Board had unanimously recommended denying clemency. “Today, Weisheit’s sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court,” Braun said.

Braun and Rokita statements

Rokita said his thoughts remained with the children’s families and that “with this justice being done, they may find some measure of peace,” WTHR reported. The execution was Indiana’s first since Roy Lee Ward was put to death on Oct. 10, 2025, according to WTHR.

Weisheit had been in a relationship with the children’s mother, Lisa Lynch, who left them in his care while she went to work, WTHR reported. Investigators said Caleb was bound with duct tape and that firefighters found Alyssa dead in a closet.

Final appeals over the lethal drug

On Monday, Braun denied clemency after the parole board’s unanimous recommendation, WTHR and 14News reported. Weisheit’s lawyers had asked for a pause, saying the state obtained pentobarbital from Pharmaneek, an Indianapolis pharmacy facing a Board of Pharmacy hearing on Nov. 9. The Indiana Department of Correction told WTHR it paid $275,000 for six vials of pentobarbital on Sept. 25 and received the drugs Oct. 29, while citing a state law that bars disclosing supplier identities for execution drugs.

The Indiana Supreme Court late Wednesday denied a final emergency stay in a 3-2 vote. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissented and said they would have granted a 10-day stay for more submissions on the drugs and related filings, WTHR reported.

During October’s clemency hearing, the children’s father, Steven Lynch, said he forgave Weisheit and asked that the sentence be reduced to life in prison, according to WTHR. The Vanderburgh County prosecutor opposed clemency, 14News reported.

Sources: WTHR, 14News, Office of Gov. Mike Braun, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.