MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (WOWO) — An Indiana death row inmate scheduled to be executed November 5 is asking the state to spare his life, apologizing for the 2010 murders of his girlfriend’s two young children while struggling to explain why he killed them and facing pointed questions about whether he could safely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, appeared Friday before the Indiana Parole Board at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for a 64-minute clemency interview. He acknowledged placing a phone book on an electric stove burner and leaving the house with 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, still inside. The children died in the resulting fire at their Evansville home.

“There is no excuse or explanation for what I did,” Weisheit told the five-member board, appearing with attorney Joseph Perkovich.

Weisheit repeatedly apologized to the children’s family but could not provide a clear explanation for his decision to kill them. Board members questioned his account of the murders, his history of disciplinary incidents behind bars and his reluctance to pursue mental health treatment. They also challenged him to explain how he would manage anger, stress and interpersonal conflicts if his death sentence were commuted to life in prison without parole.

The hearing began the board’s consideration of Weisheit’s clemency request. Public testimony is scheduled for Monday, October 19, in Indianapolis. The board will make a nonbinding recommendation to Governor Mike Braun, who will decide whether to allow the execution to proceed.

Weisheit’s execution remains scheduled for November 5, although his attorneys are separately seeking additional brain imaging and a two-week delay, to November 19, to allow further investigation into possible brain injuries and mental health issues. The Indiana Supreme Court has set deadlines for additional arguments on those requests but had not ruled on them as of Friday.

Much of the clemency interview focused on the events leading up to the children’s deaths and Weisheit’s inability to explain why his anger toward their mother turned into violence against the children.

Weisheit was caring for Alyssa and Caleb on the night of April 9, 2010, while their mother, Lisa Lynch, worked overnight. Firefighters discovered the children’s bodies after responding to the burning home early the following morning.

A jury convicted Weisheit of two counts of murder and arson in 2013 and recommended the death penalty.

During Friday’s hearing, Weisheit described financial difficulties, disagreements about caring for the children and his belief that Lisa Lynch had betrayed him. He said he had become consumed by those thoughts in the weeks before the killings.

He told board members that the children had watched a Disney movie and fallen asleep before he put them to bed. After speaking with their mother by phone, he said, his anger grew.

Caleb later got out of bed wanting to play, Weisheit testified. He acknowledged restraining the boy with duct tape and putting a rag in his mouth to prevent him from screaming before placing him on his bed. Alyssa remained in her own bed, he said.

Weisheit said he packed belongings into his car and decided to start the fire shortly before leaving the house. That account differed from his position at his 2013 trial, when he denied setting the fire, according to court records.

“I don’t understand why I got so mad,” Weisheit said. “I just, I don’t know, I don’t know why, why I can’t explain it.”

He denied being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the killings occurred.

Court records also describe preparations Weisheit made before the murders. He stopped payments on an engagement ring, told the jeweler he was leaving the country, quit his job and withdrew the money in his bank account. He fled to Kentucky, where police apprehended him after a high-speed chase.

Board members also questioned Weisheit about road flares found beneath and around Caleb’s body. Weisheit acknowledged buying flares and keeping them in the house but denied placing them near the boy. He offered no definitive explanation for how they got there and speculated, without presenting evidence, that police or emergency responders could have been responsible.

One board member asked why Weisheit had not simply left the house without hurting the children. Another questioned why he directed his anger at them rather than their mother.

Weisheit said he could not hurt Lisa Lynch because she was pregnant with his child.

“The word sorry cannot be enough, but I am so sorry to Lisa Lynch and her family, and Steve Lynch and his family,” he said.

He told the board that he thinks about the children every day and hopes to remain connected to the relatives who have continued to support him.

The board’s questions then turned to whether Weisheit could safely serve a life sentence in the prison system’s general population.

Weisheit described taking pride in his sanitation duties, maintaining a clean living space and helping other prisoners. He said he buys snacks for other inmates and wants to continue contributing to the prison community.

“I want to live now,” he said. “I want to try to make things better as much as I can, especially in prisons, because I see how bad, like this prison, it’s managed.”

Board members questioned how he would handle the greater range of interpersonal conflicts that could come with a move out of death row, particularly if he were required to share a cell.

Weisheit said he generally tries to find common ground with other inmates and retreats to his cell when tensions rise. If he had a problem with a cellmate, he said, he would attempt to talk through the disagreement and seek help from a correctional officer if necessary.

Board member Mia Kelsaw pressed him on whether those strategies would be sufficient if he faced sustained conflict or became overwhelmed.

Weisheit argued that spending time around a broader group of prisoners might be better than remaining with the same small group on death row.

“We’re the same five people,” he said. “We don’t get to see much of anybody else other than (correctional officers). And COs don’t like coming in because we talk them to death.”

Board Chairwoman Gwendolyn Horth also questioned how Weisheit’s claims of personal and religious transformation aligned with his disciplinary record.

One incident involved fecal matter. Weisheit denied throwing it at anyone, saying he had kept it in a cooler in his cell because he feared another prisoner would attack him. He said correctional officers instructed him to empty it into a toilet.

He also disputed the circumstances surrounding other incidents, including his possession of a broken squeegee handle and his use of cardboard to block his cell lock. Weisheit said he intended to repair the cleaning tool and used the cardboard because he feared other prisoners could enter his cell.

Those explanations left board members questioning how reliably they could assess his behavior under pressure and whether the circumstances of general-population housing could present a risk to other prisoners or staff.

Kelsaw also challenged Weisheit over his reluctance to use available mental health services in prison. She questioned why he devoted so much of the hearing to his relationship with Lisa Lynch while providing comparatively little explanation for the steps he took to kill her children.

Weisheit said he had been afraid to discuss personal matters with counselors. By the end of the interview, however, he said he would like to speak with someone.

“I wish you had have taken the opportunity to get some help, so that you could be able to figure out what in the world was going on with you,” Kelsaw told him. “Every opportunity you have, you take what’s offered, and you work on you.”

Weisheit also raised questions about his neurological and psychological history, repeatedly attributing difficulties throughout his life to problems with his brain.

He described childhood head injuries, trouble concentrating and concerns about taking medication. He said he was not taking psychiatric medication and, when questioned about a bipolar disorder diagnosis, continued to emphasize his belief that brain damage was the underlying problem.

His attorneys are seeking MRI and PET scans, along with additional analysis, to investigate whether brain abnormalities or injuries preceded the murders and whether evidence of brain injuries, mental illness and childhood trauma was inadequately developed during earlier proceedings.

Weisheit also suffered a head injury during his arrest when police used a Taser and he fell. The extent and timing of his earlier injuries have been disputed in court.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker approved funding for additional investigative work on September 16 but denied a transportation request on October 7. Weisheit’s attorneys subsequently asked the Indiana Supreme Court to move his execution from November 5 to November 19.

The court established deadlines for both sides to submit additional arguments on the transportation and scheduling requests. The state’s response was due at 4:30 p.m. Friday, with Weisheit’s attorneys given until 4:30 p.m. Monday to reply. No ruling had been issued as of the hearing.

Despite the difficult questions about the murders and his prison record, Weisheit became visibly emotional when discussing his Christian faith.

He told the board he had been baptized and had read the Bible from beginning to end seven times. He said he was reading it again and had found particular meaning in passages about Jesus healing the sick and helping others.

“I’ve made my peace with God,” Weisheit said. “I’ve talked to Him. I’ve got baptized.”

When asked about his favorite passages, Weisheit described stories in which Jesus helped people. He cried while discussing those accounts and said he was still learning to live according to his faith.

“I’m still learning,” he said.

Weisheit said he had reduced his swearing and was trying to pay closer attention to his words and behavior.

Horth acknowledged his religious beliefs near the end of the hearing, telling him she was glad he had found the Lord and believed, based on what she had heard, that he had experienced a transformation.

The board did not announce a recommendation Friday and was not expected to issue one before October 23.

The hearing followed a separate clemency appeal from the children’s father, Steven Lynch, who signed an affidavit supporting a sentence of life in prison without parole.

“What good does it do the memory of my children to put this man to death?” Lynch wrote in the affidavit, which ended with the words, “Jeffrey, I forgive you.”

Weisheit’s attorney has emphasized that Lynch is speaking for himself and does not represent the views of every member of the children’s family.

Weisheit is the first Indiana death row inmate since Benjamin Ritchie in May 2025 to personally answer the parole board’s questions in a clemency interview. The board recommended against clemency for Ritchie, and Braun allowed his execution to proceed. Braun also denied clemency for Roy Lee Ward, who declined a prison interview with the board last year, although his attorneys presented his case during a public hearing.

Joseph Corcoran, who was executed in December 2024, did not seek clemency according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Weisheit’s execution would be Indiana’s fourth since the state resumed executions in December 2024 after a 15-year pause.

The next stage of the clemency process is scheduled for Monday, October 19, at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis. Public testimony supporting clemency is set for 9 to 11 a.m., followed by testimony opposing clemency from 1 to 3 p.m.

The five-member parole board will ultimately provide its recommendation to Braun, leaving the final decision on whether Weisheit lives or dies with the governor.