ROCHESTER, Ind. (WXIN) — The woman convicted of hitting and killing three siblings and severely injuring a fourth child at a Fulton County bus stop will not be released from prison before Christmas after a judge’s ruling on Monday.
Alyssa Shepherd of Rochester was convicted of reckless homicide, criminal recklessness and passing a school bus causing injury. She was sentenced to four years in prison, in addition to home detention and probation, in 2019.
Lawyers for Shepherd appealed the decision, but the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in September of 2020.
The crash occurred on Oct. 30, 2018, and killed 9-year-old Alivia Stahl and twin 6-year-old brothers Mason and Xzavier Ingle. A fourth child, Maverick Lowe, was seriously injured but survived.
According to a report by WSBT, Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs said Alyssa Shepherd took a class through the Department of Corrections which took six months off her sentence and moved her release from September 2022 to March of 2022.
A Fulton County judge had the option of releasing Shepherd three months earlier — approximately Dec. 20, 2021 — but ruled against this decision.
Marrs told WSBT that the state had asked the judge not to release Shepherd early because even though the 90 days isn’t a large amount of time, every day Shepherd is in prison is justice for the families affected by the tragedy.