A man sentenced in 2023 for a 2022 murder is returning to Elkhart County Court.
Samuel Byfield was sentenced after pleading guilty but mentally ill.
The 23-year-old was charged in the murder of Wayne Bontrager, owner of Bontrager’s Meadowlark Cars. Documents say Byfield was test-driving one of Bontrager’s vehicles when the two got into an altercation.
Byfield reportedly pulled 73-year-old Bontrager from the vehicle and attacked him with a knife. According to The Goshen News, Byfield was appointed a public defender for the case and pleaded guilty but mentally ill in January of last year.
In August he filed for post-conviction relief. A status conference is set for August.
