ROCHESTER, Ind. — The woman who hit and killed three children at a school bus stop in Fulton County was released from prison Wednesday morning, six months before her scheduled release date.
Alyssa Shepherd walked out of the Rockville Correctional Facility after serving just over two years of her four year prison sentence.
Shepherd hit and killed Mason Ingle, Xavier Ingle and Alivia Stahl as they were getting on their school bus in October 2018. Another boy, Maverick Lowe, was also seriously injured.
“We knew this day was always going to come, we just didn’t expect it to come so fast,” Brittany Ingle said.
Ingle lost three of her four children that day. Ingle says her faith has helped her through the past few years of pain and heartbreak.
“Navigating through such a tragedy, I’ve had to lean on God a lot,” Ingle said. “I just kept leaning on God and focusing on my kids and the love that I had for my kids.”
Ingle says she believes Shepherd should have served a much longer sentence for killing her three children and showing little remorse.
“Considering the person who caused it doesn’t take responsibility definitely has been hard,” Ingle said. “When she got her light sentence of four years behind bars she felt it was unjust and immediately appealed.”
Shepherd was sentenced to a total of 10 years in December 2019. Six of those years were to be served on probation and home detention.
Shepherd was supposed to serve four years in prison.
“She was convicted of three counts of reckless homicide which are all level five felonies in Indiana,” Fulton County Prosecutor Mike Marrs said. “For a level five felony you serve 75 percent of your actual sentence.”
Shepherd was also convicted of one count of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon. Marrs said in Indiana you only serve 50 percent of your sentence for level six felonies.
That brought Shepherd’s earliest release date to September 2022, but she completed a prison program and shaved off an additional six months.
“Our position from day one was it was an accident, there’s no question about it. She didn’t wake up that morning intending to run over kids,” Marrs said. “But it was reckless, it was extremely reckless and in Indiana that’s criminal.”
Prosecutor Marrs said he wishes Shepherd would’ve served longer, but understands the judge’s decision.
He hopes the community can begin to heal.
“I think this case was an avoidable situation and those kids just to have them gone and knowing what their parents are going through is gut wrenching,” Marrs said.
For Brittany Ingle, she takes solace in knowing that laws have changed because of the tragedy she endured. She’s glad to know her kids are still having an impact even if they aren’t with her anymore.
“People need to remember the real victims of October 30, 2018 and it wasn’t Alyssa Shepherd,” Ingle said. “She had 15 seconds to stop, slow down or change, 15 seconds is a long time to do nothing.”
Prosecutor Maars said his understanding is that Shepherd will be moving back to the Rochester area.
She will serve three years on home detention with an ankle monitor and then three years on probation.
Her drivers license is suspended until 2032.
