Jordan Andrade, the 25-year-old Porter Township man charged with murder in the stabbing death last fall of 29-year-old Valparaiso University graduate student Varun Raj Pucha, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty but mentally ill, according to court documents filed Friday.
He has a sentencing hearing at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Pucha, from Khammam, in the state of Telangana in India, was honored during a candlelight vigil on Nov. 5 at the Indian American Cultural Center in Merrillville that drew almost 300 people, and was remembered in the days following his death on Nov. 16 during a service at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University attended by 800 mourners from the campus and the community.
Well-wishers hold up candle-lit bags in honor of Valparaiso University student Varun Raj Pucha, during a vigil at the Indian American Cultural Center in Merrillville on Sunday, November 5, 2023. Pucha died Tuesday night. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune)
Family friends and associates said during the candlelight vigil that Pucha’s parents put all of their resources into sending their oldest son to Valparaiso University to achieve his master’s degree, with the goal that he could help support his family, including his younger siblings, once he completed his education.
VU President José Padilla said during the memorial service that there are angels on campus, whether they are alive or not, and Pucha is among those angels to answer questions and give the community the push they need to move forward.
“Most importantly, he will be the hope that we need when it seems all hope is lost, and there is hope we carry forward,” a hope that will never die, Padilla said then. “I suspect it was what Varun would want us to do, what Varun would want us to do the most.”
Felony murder convictions in Indiana carry a sentencing guideline of 45 to 65 years in prison. Court documents show the plea of Guilty but Mentally Ill, while still a felony, has an incarceration cap of 60 years.
“Court takes notice of previously filed Mental Health reports,” the documents state. Two initial mental health evaluations of Andrade came to conflicting conclusions.
Upward of 800 people attended a memorial program for slain graduate student Varun Raj Pucha held Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University.– Original Credit: Eliot Aust, Valparaiso U.
Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer has taken the matter under advisement pending the submission of a pre-sentence investigation report.
Court documents state Andrade waived his 30-day sentencing requirements and is ordered to assist the Porter County Adult Probation Department prepare the report. The Victim’s Assistance Unit will also determine restitution within 30 days.
Andrade’s charges were upgraded on Nov. 8 to one count of murder, a Level 1 felony, and one count of aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony, after Pucha’s death in a Fort Wayne hospital on Nov. 7. He was stabbed in the head on Oct. 29 while sitting in a massage chair at Planet Fitness in Valparaiso where he regularly worked out.
Court documents state that Andrade told police he was seated in a massage chair next to Pucha and that Pucha had threatened to assassinate him. A pathologist ruled Pucha’s death a homicide caused by a stab wound to the head, according to court documents.
Pucha was to receive his master’s degree in information technology from VU last December.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
