FULTON COUNTY, Ind — A woman convicted of killing three children with her pickup truck at a northern Indiana bus stop could be released from prison in time for Christmas.
Alyssa Shepherd was sentenced to 10 years last September for the deaths of 9-year-old Alivia Stahl and 6-year-old twins Mason and Xzavier Ingle in the crash the morning of Oct. 30, 2018 in Fulton County. The judge sentenced Shepherd to serve four years in the Department of Correction, plus three years of home detention and the remaining three years on probation.
Her earliest release date from prison had been Sept. 22, 2022, but prosecutors said Thursday that date was moved up to March 2022 after Shepherd completed a bible study course in prison that would cut time from her sentence.
“We were notified about ten days ago that she had received a Department of Corrections time-cut for taking a class called ‘Plus Faith 2.0: Criminal Lifestyle, Attitudes & Behavior,'" Fulton County Prosecutor Mike Marrs told WNDU.
Marrs said it's possible Shepherd's sentence will be reduced even further through a Community Transition Program. That program, which is recommended by probation officers, could take another 60-90 days off the sentence. That would potentially put Shepherd home in time for Christmas.
“As far as this community transition, probation makes a recommendation and I believe they are recommending that it will be granted because she has complied,” Marrs said.
Both Marrs and Brittany Ingle, the mother of the three children killed in the crash, say Shepherd does not deserve the opportunity.
“You wanting a shorter sentence, you act as if their lives didn’t matter. You are saying to us, our family, the community, the nation that their lives didn’t matter,” Ingle said.
Ingle and others gathered Thursday to protest the early release.
“To the woman who killed my children, if you think my kids are beneath you, you’re dead wrong,” Ingle said Thursday.
Marrs said a motion was filed Thursday against Shepherd's early release. A judge is expected to rule on the motion in the next month to decide if Shepherd will get out of prison by Dec. 20 or if she'll have to wait until March to go home.