Evansville man faces murder, other charges in death of disabled woman

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – The man accused of abducting and murdering Aleah Beckerle made his first court appearance on Wednesday.

Terrence Roach, 24, faces a slew of felonies including three different counts of felony murder.

Indiana law allows prosecutors to file felony murder charges if a death occurs during the commission of another felony.

There were several members of both families in the courtroom on Wednesday.

The judge also ordered Roach to have no contact with Aleah’s mother, Cara Beckerle.

Roach allegedly told detectives that he had smoked synthetic marijuana before abducting Aleah and taking her to an abandoned house on South Bedford.

That’s where Aleah’s body was found more than eight months after her disappearance.

Roach will be represented by private attorney Glenn Grampp, who spoke with reporters following his client’s first court appearance.

“I’ve requested all of his mental health records. Under HIPPA you can’t make those things public but there could very well be some hearings in this case where there would be testimony concerning his records or his history. I just really don’t know right now,” said Grampp.

Grampp said that he might ask that the trial be moved to another county because of pre-trial publicity and his concerns that the jury pool might be tainted.

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