A Fort Wayne man serving prison time for two 1998 murders was booked Friday into the Allen County Jail on new charges of murder and two additional felonies.
Bernard McClaney, 48, pleaded guilty in 2012 to the fatal 1998 shooting of 19-year-old Artie Rittenhouse, a crime that took place in Fort Wayne. McClaney was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Court records note that maximum security was recommended for McClaney°®¶¹app™s prison time.
When McClaney was charged with Rittenhouse°®¶¹app™s murder, he was already serving time in an Ohio prison for the murder of 22-year-old Kemrick Drakes, according to an appellate court°®¶¹app™s partial denial of his appeal. Drakes was killed on April 27, 1998 °®¶¹app“ 26 days after Rittenhouse was found dead.
McClaney has now been charged with murder, armed robbery and criminal confinement, according to Allen County Jail records.
His court records were sealed as of Friday afternoon, however, so it is unknown whom McClaney is accused of killing.
Franklin County, Ohio, court records show McClaney pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery in Drakes°®¶¹app™ death.
Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull ordered a 55-year sentence for Rittenhouse°®¶¹app™s murder to be served after he finished the 15 years McClaney was serving for Drakes°®¶¹app™ death.
McClaney admitted to police when they interviewed him at the Toledo Correctional Facility in Ohio that he shot and killed Rittenhouse, according to a 2021 probable cause affidavit written by Fort Wayne Police Officer Cary Young. Six months later, McClaney pleaded guilty to the murder.
At sentencing, McClaney described himself as a monster, Journal Gazette archives show.
°®¶¹appœI don°®¶¹app™t understand why I grew up to be this monstrous person,°®¶¹app McClaney said. °®¶¹appœI don°®¶¹app™t know why God made me. I know I can°®¶¹app™t bring him back. °®¶¹app¦ I don°®¶¹app™t know why I did it. Wherever he is at, he°®¶¹app™s smiling at you. He is happy.°®¶¹app
It is unclear when McClaney will first appear in court on the newly filed charges.
