Boyfriend Denies Involvement After Indiana Teen Sisters Die Days Apart

CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. – The boyfriend of a 19-year-old woman killed last month told a newspaper that he had nothing to do with the mysterious deaths of his girlfriend and her younger sister just days later.

Erin Stanley died Sept. 1 at her parents' home in Centerville, a death which authorities have ruled a homicide. Kelly Stanley, 18, was found dead in the home on Sept. 7. A search warrant affidavit suggests investigators suspect that Kelly also may have been killed.

Erin Stanley's boyfriend, James McFarland, was the father of Erin's infant daughter and lived with the Stanleys in Centerville. He said he has been questioned several times by investigators.

"I've got nothing to hide," he told the Palladium-Item of Richmond for a story Tuesday. "I didn't have anything to do with either death or I would be in jail by now. They can look all they want. That's their job. I would just like to know who killed my girlfriend."

Officials have released little information about the deaths in the town about 60 miles east of Indianapolis. Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Shipman declined to say whether investigators have a suspect.

The Associated Press could not locate McFarland for comment as no telephone number is listed in his name in Centerville or in nearby Cambridge City, where he told the newspaper he was living with relatives.

McFarland, 23, said he planned to marry Erin Stanley and was devastated by her death.

The day she died, McFarland woke up when he heard his daughter crying about 4:50 a.m., he said.

"It was strange because usually Erin got up with her," McFarland said. "But (Erin) was laying on her side and she never moved. It was pitch black, but I found my way to the crib. When I turned the light on I could tell right away that there was something wrong. Erin was just laying there and she wasn't breathing."

McFarland said he screamed for Stanley's parents to help. They called 911 and performed CPR, he said, but Stanley later died.

McFarland, whose father died in a 1999 car accident and whose mother died of an aneurysm in 2003, said his daughter was living with Stanley's parents.