After she was repeatedly raped in her own home by Vaylan Glazebrook and Michael Deweese in 2014, one IU alumna said she hasn’t just had her guard up. She’s had a suit of armor with barbed wire surrounded by a brick wall.
In a statement to the court read Thursday during Glazebrook's sentencing, the woman said suicidal thoughts and panic have plagued her ever since that night, and she doesn’t even feel safe in her own home despite the locks, deadbolt and bars on her doors.
Judge Marc Kellams told Glazebrook, convicted of 14 felonies last month, he had sympathy for Glazebrook’s childhood abandonment by his parents and his young age — 19 — at the time of the crimes.
However, Kellams said he had to base his decision on the suffering of the victims and handed down a sentence of 125 and a half years, more time than even the prosecution recommended.
“These women’s lives have been emotionally and psychologically scarred,” Kellams said. “The absolute disdain for the humanity of the victims is astonishing.”
Glazebrook said in court he plans to appeal his convictions and sentencing. His public defender said Glazebrook’s complaints deal with his own lawyers and defense, so outside counsel may need to be appointed for this process.
The convictions stemmed from crimes on Nov. 9, 2014, against two IU students and a Bloomington Police Department officer.
Glazebrook and Deweese broke into an apartment on the 500 block of East 12th Street and robbed and raped two women at gunpoint repeatedly until BPD officer William Abram arrived.
Abram then chased the men outside, and Glazebrook fired a shot at him. Abram returned fire, hitting both men, and they were arrested within hours.
Deweese is already serving 109 years in prison. A third alleged accomplice who did not enter the apartment, Jesse Benti-Torres, is awaiting trial on lesser charges.
Two of Glazebrook’s family members spoke at his sentencing Thursday, asking for leniency. He had only one low-level drug offense on his adult record at the time the violent crimes were committed, and the family members told Kellams they could help guide Glazebrook to lead a better life if he were given a reduced sentence.
However, Glazebrook himself declined to make a statement to the court, and Kellams said his lack of a statement of remorse contributed to his decision to impose a long sentence.
“Mr. Glazebrook participated in every woman’s greatest nightmare,” Kellams said. “This was unbelievable.”
After reading the sentence, Kellams said he usually hesitates to add any final words, but he decided to say one last thing to Glazebrook: although he would likely be in prison for the rest of his life, there were still opportunities for him to live a good one.
“In or out of the Department of Corrections, you still have a life to live,” Kellams said. “I hope you live it to the best of your abilities.”
