Nicholas Stanley was sentenced to 80 years in the Elkhart killing of Allen Cogswell.

The total is 80 years in the Thursday accounts. WSBT's 55 plus 10 is the same 65 WNDU assigns to the murder count, with 15 years more on a firearm enhancement. WSBT alone says he must serve 75 percent. WVPE reported in September that Elkhart Circuit Judge Michael Christofeno would impose the sentence and that the range was 55 to 85 years. Thursday's stories did not print his name. WNDU says Stanley is 36. WVPE, last month, said 35.

WSBT, WNDU and ABC57 reported Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, that Nicholas Stanley was sentenced to 80 years in prison in the killing of Allen Cogswell. ABC57 reported the sentence was imposed the morning of Oct. 22 and that his legal team said it will appeal. WSBT reported the defense attorney plans to appeal and did not name that lawyer. WNDU, citing the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office, reported he received 65 years for murder and 15 years for a firearm enhancement he admitted during the trial. WSBT reported 55 years for murder, 10 years for aggravating factors, and 15 years for a firearm enhancement, and that he must serve 75 percent of the sentence. Fifty-five plus 10 is 65. The Thursday stories are describing one 80-year term in two different splits, and only WSBT prints the 75 percent figure. WVPE reported Sept. 25 that Elkhart Circuit Judge Michael Christofeno would sentence him Oct. 22, that the range was 55 to 85 years, and that trial counsel Vincent Campiti had argued sudden heat. Thursday's accounts of the 80 years do not name the judge. WNDU's dateline is Goshen. WSBT's is Elkhart.

WNDU reported Stanley is 36, that a jury found him guilty last month, and that Cogswell was 35. The station reported the shooting was June 24, 2025, at the Daylite Inn on Cassopolis Street, that Cogswell had been released from prison in May 2025, and that he was living at the motel. WSBT reported the killing was in June 2025 at that inn, that Stanley tracked Cogswell there, knocked, and shot him twice at point-blank range when he opened the door. WNDU, citing The Goshen News, reported Stanley testified he had planned to confront Cogswell and beat him up, that seeing him through the motel window caused his brain to "explode like a tsunami," and that he then decided to kill him. WNDU quoted him under oath: "I decided that I had to do what I had to do to protect my (family); I had to kill him." The station, again citing The Goshen News, reported he said he went to his car, took a shotgun, knocked, and shot Cogswell twice. The shotgun is that account. WSBT's point-blank line does not name the gun.

WSBT and WNDU described Cogswell as a convicted sex offender. WSBT reported he had just been released from prison for molesting a relative of Stanley. WNDU reported court records show Stanley is a close family member of one of Cogswell's past victims. WVPE reported the jury found him guilty of murdering the man who had sexually abused a member of his family. That person is not named here. WVPE quoted Prosecutor Vicki Becker after the verdict: "Mr. Cogswell did not try to contact the family in any way. He posed no threat. He had accepted responsibility, he had served the maximum sentence for the crime for which he was convicted." WVPE reported Campiti argued, outside the jury's presence, that the killing was sudden heat, and that Christofeno refused to let the jury consider manslaughter because he believed Stanley acted deliberately. WVPE then described Stanley as 35. WNDU's Thursday story says 36. The 80 years is the sentence imposed Thursday. The appeal is what the defense told ABC57 and WSBT it intends to file. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.