John Jefferson
Amber Robertson received 20 months credit for time served in jail after her 8-month-old daughter Amiah, top inset, disappeared in 2019 in Indianapolis. Amiah’s body was never recovered. Robertson’s boyfriend, Robert Lyons, bottom inset, received a 10-year prison sentence. (Amiah: Indianapolis police; Screenshot: WHTR/YouTube)
A mother in Indiana will end up serving 20 months in jail after her daughter, 8-month old baby Amiah, vanished without a trace in 2019 and is believed to be the victim of a homicide.
Court records say a judge on Friday sentenced Amber Robertson to 849 days in prison with 637 days credit served and 212 days of good time credit which amounts to roughly 20 months. She also will be on probation for the next three-and-a-half years. She pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent and neglect resulting in serious bodily injury. Amiah’s body has never been found.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Robertson’s then-boyfriend Robert Lyons left with Amiah Robertson, who was “alive and well” around 1:15 p.m. March 9, 2019. Lyons then returned to Robertson’s home without Amiah around 9 hours later without Amiah. Robertson didn’t report Amiah missing for a week. Lyons reportedly gave cops several locations where Amiah should be but the girl either wasn’t there or the locations didn’t exist. Detectives also found several items of Amiah’s on the bank of the Eagle Creek but didn’t find the girl.
By March 23, 2019, police announced they were investigating the case as a homicide.
A grand jury in September 2022 indicted Robertson and Lyons on neglect charges. The grand jury alleged that Robertson knowingly put Amiah in a situation that endangered her life and/or “abandoned or cruelly confined” the girl, according to local CBS affiliate WTTV.
Robertson faced four counts of neglect. As part of the plea deal, all but one were dismissed. Lyons pleaded guilty earlier this year and a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison, according to court records. Even Robertson’s father believes she is culpable in Amiah’s death.
“I don’t agree with her being let out. I believe in my heart…no, maybe she didn’t harm Amiah physically. But I believe she knows what happened to Amiah. I believe that,” Chuck Robertson told local NBC affiliate WTHR.
He added: “What hurts me the most of all of this is these two people, Amber and Robbie, will go down in history as getting away with a perfect murder.”
She also must take parenting classes as part of her plea deal. WTHR reported Amber Robertson has five other children, including twins she delivered while in jail.
“It was a difficult case. It’s a challenge case,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said, according to the outlet. “The conviction on Robert for 10 years at the Department of Correction reflects what we were able to prove and what we were able to demonstrate, and the conviction here also demonstrates Amber’s culpability.”
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