ANGOLA, IND. (WTVB) – The man who admitted he killed a Lake James woman during a break in of her home in June 2021 was ordered to serve 95 years in prison on Monday in Steuben County Circuit Court.
31-year-old Matthew Roland Hoover of Yorktown, Indiana entered guilty pleas to murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing death of 82-year-old Wilma Ball.
In exchange for his pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of attempted rape and attempted abuse of a corpse.
WANE-TV reports Hoover was given a 65 year sentence for murder and a 30 year consecutive sentence on the burglary count.
The station also reports there were nearly 40 friends and family members of the victim in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing in front of Judge Allen Wheat.
According to Steuben County court documents, Hoover at first denied in an interview with Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Police investigators he had been in the victim’s home at 395 Lane 200 East and that he did not kill Ball.
But according to an affidavit, police discovered a beer can on a nightstand in Ball’s bedroom and a test at the Indiana State Police lab found it had Hoover’s DNA on it.
O’Grady Would have given him 2 years’ probation with time served credits.