INDIANAPOLIS (Court TV) — A woman once dubbed “the female Charles Manson” will remain behind bars after a judge’s decision.
Sarah Pender addresses the court at a hearing on Dec. 5, 2025. (Court TV)
Sarah Jo Pender stood before an Indiana judge last month at a resentencing hearing, 25 years after she was convicted for her role in the deaths of Andrew Cataldi and Trisha Nordman.
In an order dated January 5, Judge James Snyder formally denied the petition for sentence modification.
Pender, now 45, delivered an emotional statement on her own behalf at the December hearing, denying that she pulled the trigger and killed the two victims but accepting responsibility for their deaths.
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Cataldi and Nordman were shot to death in 2000 in the Indianapolis home they shared with Pender and her then-boyfriend, Richard Hull. Hull admitted to being the gunman and was sentenced to 75 years in prison after accepting a plea deal. After going to trial, Pender was sentenced to 110 years.
Pender saw tremendous support at December’s resentencing hearing, with the judge hearing testimony from her parents, a documentary filmmaker and a letter written by former Marion County Prosecutor Larry Sells on her behalf. Sells, who notably referred to Pender as “the female Charles Manson” when she was first charged with the crimes, said he now supports her resentencing.
