Maxwell Kroll, Elijah Robinson murders: Gary man convicted in slayings of 2 teenage boys

CROWN POINT, Ind. - A Gary man has been convicted in the 2020 killings of two teenage boys found shot to death in a northwest Indiana home.

A Lake County jury found Alvino S. "Vino" Amaya, 37, guilty Thursday of two counts of murder and a firearm enhancement in the slayings of 18-year-old Elijah Robinson and his friend Maxwell Kroll, 17.

Prosecutors said the teens were slain execution-style on Oct. 16, 2020, in a residence near Griffith as Amaya was searching for a missing handgun, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter told jurors in closing arguments that Robinson and Kroll were two kind, caring but very naive youths.

Maxwell Kroll and Elijah Robinson | Legal Help Firm

"They were caught in a world that they should never have been a part of," she said. "They were surrounded by firearms, drugs and dangerous people."

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Amaya was one of three people charged in the teens’ killings.

Dawn Carden, Avino Amaya, and Elijah D. Robinson

Elijah D. Robinson was facing a possible sentence of 150 years in prison before signing a plea agreement last year that called for him to testify against Amaya. If a judge accepts his plea to one felony count of residential entry, he will face a sentence of six months to 2 1/2 years.

Dawn M. Carden, 43, is also charged in the slayings. She has pleaded not guilty and her trial is scheduled to begin May 16, according to online court records.