Life in prison for Detroit man in daughter’s death

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit father who inspired dozens of people to look for his missing 2-year-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison for her murder Monday while repeatedly insisting he didn’t harm her and she’s still alive.

D'Andre Lane claimed Bianca Jones was abducted during a carjacking a year ago, a tragic, emotional story that led police and volunteers to scour the city’s most depressed neighborhoods to look for her near the holidays.

But investigators soon became skeptical and questioned Lane’s credibility. He was convicted of first-degree murder in October after prosecutors told a jury that the carjacking was a lie to cover up Bianca’s death. Authorities alleged that she was killed with a stick, partly because she wet herself and wasn’t potty-trained.

Bianca’s body has never been found.

“You controlled her dead body like a rag doll. … You figured that a city plagued with violence, understaffed by police — who would care? But you were wrong,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans said.

Lane repeatedly professed his innocence and blamed police for an incomplete investigation.

“I did not murder my child. I did not abuse my child. My child is alive,” he said.

The judge ejected him from court after he muttered that the case was full of lies.

“Vonda, you’re a liar,” Lane told Judge Evans as sheriff’s deputies escorted him past her.

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