He Confessed to Killing a Child Molester. Now He Faces Decades in Prison

The sister of an Indiana man accused of killing the person who molested one of his relatives is “devastated” by his jailhouse confession, but predicts a jury ultimately won’t send him to prison.

Nicholas Stanley, 35, of Middlebury, remains held without bail at Elkhart County Jail for the June 24 slaying of Allen L. Cogswell, 35, a convicted sex offender who had been found fatally shot at the Daylite Inn in Elkhart just one month after being released from prison stemming from a 2018 child molestation conviction.

Stanley, who is related to the young victim in the 2018 case, confessed to killing Cogswell during a shocking jailhouse interview last week with WBND, the ABC station in South Bend. Stanley told the station he had become obsessed with Cogswell while he was in prison. One night, Stanley said he couldn’t sleep, so grabbed his gun and tracked Cogswell to the motel, where he “took him out.”

“When he got released, I lost my mind,” an emotionless Stanley said during the video interview. “I drove out to go find him. And then when I found him, I did what I had to.”

Stanley now faces at least 45 years in prison if convicted of the murder, but said he has no regrets.

“I’m just tired of pretending that I have to be scared of the system when he obviously wasn’t scared of the system,” Stanley told the station from behind bars. “And now I’m going to get more time putting this piece of trash out, than he ever got for hurting my family and the ones that I love.”

“So, if the system wants to throw me away, let them. I don’t even care anymore,” he told WBND.

Stanley’s sister, Jessica Stanley, told Newsweek she’s now worried about her brother’s deteriorating mental state following the shocking confession.

“He’s got several mental health issues,” Jessica, 37, said. “He was, in fact, on medication for quite a while but lost he job and his insurance about a month and a half before he allegedly committed the murder. So, he was not on any medication as far as we’re aware of when the crime had taken place.”

Jessica said she believes her brother’s mental state was “definitely altered” during last Wednesday’s jailhouse interview.

“I was devastated that he would admit to doing it,” she told Newsweek. “I was shaking, I honestly started crying because why would you confess to something you had allegedly done, especially without an attorney present? That was kind of concerning, why he would do such a thing.”

The jailed father of two previously worked at a manufacturing facility and had been seeing a psychiatrist every two weeks, Jessica said.

“Especially since our mother had passed away in February, his mental health had deteriorated quite quickly,” she said. “He was on a plethora of medications due to his psychiatric issues.”

Stanley, who speaks to his sister daily from jail, no longer takes those medications because he cannot afford them, she said.

Cogswell, of Elkhart, was a distant relative of the victim through her mother’s family. He had been sentenced to seven to 12 years in prison for molesting Stanley’s relative, but was paroled in May after serving six and a half years, Jessica told Newsweek.

“We were never notified of his parole hearing, so we were never able to show up and make a victim impact statement in regards to his possible release,” she said.

Jessica, who is now raising funds for her brother’s looming legal fight, said she’s extremely concerned about his safety.

“I’m afraid that he’s going to do something regrettable while he is behind bars — harming himself,” she said. “If he doesn’t call me every day so I can speak to him, I’m afraid that he’s done something to himself. My main concern has been the state of his mental health while he’s behind bars.”

Stanley is being represented by a public defender, his sister said. As of midday Monday, more than $1,200 had been donated to an online fundraiser set up for the accused killer and his two children, ages 14 and 12.

“They’re devastated,” Jessica said of her niece and nephew. “They know that they probably won’t see their dad for a very, very long time.”

Stanley said she believes her brother should ultimately be sentenced to house arrest and probation if he’s convicted in the slaying.

Attempts to reach relatives of Cogswell on Monday were unsuccessful. Newsweek also reached out to the Elkhart County Public Defender’s Office with a request to speak to Stanley’s lawyer.

Stanley pleaded not guilty to Cogswell’s murder during his initial court appearance on Thursday. He remains held without bail ahead of his trial, which has been set for October 6. Earlier this year, he plainly posted his thoughts about child molesters on social media.

“Child molesters into the woodchipper and billionaires in guillotines,” Stanley wrote on Facebook on January 13.

“If you hurt kids, I hurt you,” he posted two days later. “End of story.”

A friend of Stanley who asked to remain anonymous said the Indiana father’s “courageous act of unselfishness” possibly saved other children from being victimized.

“I believe he simply became obsessed with the fact that he didn’t want another child to feel the same pain that child felt,” the friend told Newsweek. “He did what many don’t have the courage to do in society and was willing to pay the price for your children and his…Nick was a good man and he still is,” the friend continued.

“What would you have done if it was your child?”