David Ludwig was eighteen years old when he shot and killed his girlfriends parents. According to court documents David Ludwig was involved in an argument about his relationship with his girlfriends parents when he pulled out a gun and shot and killed the pair. David Ludwig would take off with the fourteen year old girlfriend though they did not make it to far as he crashed the car into a tree. This teen killer would be charged and convicted of kidnapping and double murder and be sentenced to life in prison
David Ludwig 2023 Information
Parole Number:GR6289
Age: 32
Date of Birth: 04/28/1987
Race: WHITE
Height: 6′ 02″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: DALLAS
Permanent Location: DALLAS
Committing County: LANCASTER
David Ludwig Other News
Double murderer David G. Ludwig has been transferred to a state prison in Indiana County to serve part of his life sentence for killing his girlfriend’s parents.
Ludwig, 19, was transferred Aug. 3 to the maximum-security State Correctional Institute at Pine Grove, said Susan Naughton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.
The former Lititz resident, who pleaded guilty to killing Michael and Cathryn Borden in their Lititz home in November, began his prison sentence in June at Camp Hill Prison.
“Mr. Ludwig will be assigned a job such as a janitorial or food services worker and take part in daily recreational activities as well as educational opportunities,” Naughton said. “He also will be around young people in the general population and be able to have visitors.”
Shortly after his sentencing, Ludwig was transferred June 20 from Lancaster County Prison to Camp Hill, where he underwent psychiatric, aptitude, substance-abuse and behavioral evaluations.
The state Department of Corrections selected the Indiana prison for Ludwig because of its “Young Adult Offenders Program.”
Designed for inmates ages 15 to 20, the program aims to teach self-responsibility, discipline, respect for others and self-esteem.
Pine Grove, which opened in 2000, houses many of the state’s worst young male criminals in a therapeutic community, according to the Department of Corrections.
Inmates at Pine Grove start each day at 6:10 a.m. A head count is conducted, and at 6:30 a.m. inmates convene for a workout that includes sit-ups, push-ups and running in place.
They return to their cells at 7:15 a.m. and change for breakfast, which starts at 7:30 a.m. Lunch is at 11:30 a.m. and dinner at 4:20 p.m.
The bulk of the day is filled with four hours of educational classes; four hours of job training in culinary arts, business, computer-assisted drafting, installing heating and cooling systems or janitorial maintenance; and four hours of individualized life-management skills.
Inmates also undergo a military-style 90-day leadership development program that promotes honor, discipline, integrity and respect.
The transition from county prison, where Ludwig earned a high school diploma, to a state corrections institution has been hard for the teen, said Merrill M. Spahn, one of Ludwig’s defense attorneys.
“The setting change has been difficult because county prison was smaller, and he had grown used to the environment,” Spahn said.
Ludwig’s parents, Gregory and Jane Ludwig, visited their son in Camp Hill and are planning a trip this week to Pine Grove, which is about 215 miles from their home in Lititz.
“His parents are disappointed because he wasn’t placed at a prison closer to home but feel he is in the best place for him,” Spahn said.
It costs about $120 a day to house an inmate at Pine Grove, which employs about 430 people.
Inmates can make 18 to 42 cents an hour working as carpenters, plumbers, cooks and maintenance workers. Their earnings can be used to purchase clothing, shoes, food and personal items at the prison commissary.
Most of the 250 inmates at Pine Grove stay until age 22 and then are transferred to serve the rest of their terms in adult prisons.
Ludwig pleaded guilty in June to the Nov. 13, 2005, slayings.
Ludwig shot the Bordens inside their home at 15 Royal Drive, Warwick Township, because they objected to his dating their 14-year-old daughter, Kara Beth.
Ludwig and Kara Beth fled together after the shootings and eluded authorities for about 28 hours before being arrested in Indiana. Kara Beth was not charged with any crime.
Judge David Ashworth sentenced Ludwig to serve two consecutive life terms plus 9½ to 19 years in state prison and ordered him to pay $125,000 in restitution.
No appeals are planned, Spahn said.
David Ludwig More News
A state appellate court denied David G. Ludwig’s latest request for relief, according to the Lancaster County district attorney’s office.
The convicted killer of a Warwick Township couple filed too late, authorities said.
David Ludwig, now 29, is serving two consecutive life terms for fatally shooting Michael and Cathryn Borden in their home in November 2005 after they told him he could no longer see their 14-year-old daughter, Kara Borden.
David Ludwig, 18 at the time, drew a pistol and shot both parents in the head as he was being shown to the door to leave
He fled with the daughter, and the couple was found a day later in Indiana.
In Ludwig’s most recent filing, he argued alleged issues including a request that he be treated as a juvenile killer serving life. He pointed to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that deemed life sentences for juvenile defendants “unconstitutional.”
He also pointed to “ineffective assistance” of his previous lawyer.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently denied the request, concurring with Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth who previously found the challenge to be untimely and without merit, according to the district attorney’s office.
Ashworth said Ludwig was not due the same consideration as juveniles because he was 18½ at the time of the murders.
In June 2006 David Ludwig pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, statutory sexual assault and related charges in exchange for a sentence of two consecutive life terms and a consecutive term of 9½ to 19 years in prison.
David Ludwig is currently incarcerated in Luzerene County.
