INDIANAPOLIS — The last person to see baby Amiah Robertson alive in 2019 was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for neglect.
Robert "Robbie" Lyons, the former boyfriend of Amiah's mother, was caring for the girl on March 9, 2019, when eight-month-old Amiah was last seen at a home in the 200 block of South Holmes Avenue.
"The one question we all want the answer to is: Where’s Amiah?" Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Linda Majors said in court.
"The fact of the matter is we still have no idea where Amiah is, and the last person to know where she was is not revealing any information about that."
Marion Superior Court Judge Marie Kern sentenced Lyons to 10 years in prison, followed by a year on home detention and two more years on probation.
Kern also handed Lyons a suspended prison sentence of six years, which he would only serve if he violates probation.
It was the maximum sentence allowed under a plea agreement. Lyons pleaded guilty to neglect on April 11.
Amber Robertson, Amiah's mother, faces the same neglect charges that Lyons faced. She is scheduled to go on trial in June.
Shortly after the child disappeared, Amber Robertson told investigators that Lyons had taken Amiah to a babysitter.
Investigators believe Amiah is dead, but they don't know how she died or what happened to her body.
Prosecutors revealed a key piece of evidence in court during Lyons' hearings: Detectives found baby clothes soaked in Amiah's blood at the babysitter's house on South Holmes Avenue.
In April 2019, police dug up the backyard and searched with cadaver dogs but were unable to locate Amiah's body.
In court Friday, Lyons had another chance to say what happened to Amiah before the judge handed down the sentence.
"The fact that there hasn’t been additional information that could be provided reflects upon how much responsibility he is actually taking," Kern said.
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Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on X/Twitter: @vicryc.
