MUNCIE, IN — A former Muncie resident convicted of killing a local man and later dumping his body off a cliff in Tennessee was sentenced on Wednesday, Aug. 5, to 69 years in prison.
The sentence 46-year-old Ian James Shelden received from Delaware Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick was the maximum for his three convictions, for murder, obstruction of justice and auto theft.
A Circuit Court 4 jury found Shelden — more recently of Jamestown, Tennessee — guilty of those charges on April 30.
He had been accused of fatally beating Muncie resident Mark Trent, 53 at the time of his March 2016 death, in the victim’s West 32nd Street home.
According to a court document, Trent’s body was later dropped “from the side of a steep mountain overhang” in Fentress County, Tennessee.
Trent’s skeletonized remains were found by authorities in Fentress County after Shelden led them to the scene in October 2021.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a more heinous case,” Zach Craig, Delaware County’s chief deputy prosecutor, told Feick on Wednesday, noting Shelden had also tried to burn the victim’s body.
Craig recommended Feick impose the maximum 69-year sentence, saying the defendant had tried to portray his victim as a “deviant predator” when he claimed Trent had brandished a knife after Shelden rejected his sexual advances.
Mark McKinney, Shelden’s defense attorney, repeated those claims on Wednesday.
“My client was fending off a sexual advance,” McKinney told the judge, while adding Shelden later “felt so bad about what he had done.”
McKinney recommended the judge impose a 55-year sentence.
Shelden told the judge he was “truly sorry for what happened.”
“I’m not a monster,” he said. “I’m a child of God.”
Linda Wildey of Rushville, aunt of the homicide victim, said her family was “devastated” when Trent went missing in 2016.
She recalled her nephew as a “kind, loving and vibrant individual.”
McKinney said Shelden, who did not testify at his trial, will appeal his convictions.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ex-Muncie man gets 69 years for killing local man, disposing of body
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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By Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
