Accused Child Rapist-Murderer Wants Death
June 17, 2005 -- -- An Indiana man awaiting trial for the Christmas Eve abduction, rape and murder of a 12-year-old Indianapolis girl wrote a letter to prosecutors saying he wants to plead guilty, even though that means he could face the death penalty.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News affiliate WRTV-TV in Indianapolis, Jeffrey Voss, 40, told Marion County prosecutor Carl Brizzi that he had no choice but to go to the prosecutor for help because his defense attorneys refused to give his letter to the judge.
The television station was unable to reach Voss' lawyers for comment.
When Voss was first arrested he denied any involvement in the brutal rape, torture and murder of Christina Tedder, who disappeared on Christmas Eve of 2004. But within hours, prosecutors said, Voss made the first of his many admissions to the crimes.
In the letter to Brizzi, dated June 14, Voss said he wished to exercise his legal right to plead guilty to the death penalty. Voss stated that he would submit to a psychological evaluation to prove his competency to make this decision.
"I wish to exercise my legal right to plead guilty to the death penalty," Voss wrote in the letter. "I have had six months to think about this and this decision has been entered into knowingly and intelligently."
If psychologists find Voss competent, there is no reason why his guilty plea to death penalty charges should not be accepted, Brizzi said.
"I'm anxious to go down that road and maybe we'll be able to save the taxpayers some money," Brizzi said. "He has a constitutional right to plead guilty and accept the maximum punishment just as he has a constitutional right to plead not guilty and go to trial."
Voss, who was an acquaintance of Tedder's family, is charged with murder, child molestation, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice.
Five days after his arrest, Voss led sheriff's detectives to a creek bed in rural Hancock County where he had allegedly disposed of the body. Christina, an honor roll student at Stonybrook Middle School, was clad only in a pair of white socks.
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