The nearly monthlong trial of a 20-year-old man charged in the 2019 murders of two Lake County teens ended in a mistrial Thursday in Valparaiso.

John S. Silva III was returned to the Porter County Jail to await a July 19 status hearing. Porter County Superior Court Judge Michael Fish denied Silva bail.

The nine women and four men on the jury deliberated until around 8 p.m. Wednesday before reconvening at 9 a.m. and continuing until around 4 p.m. before letting Fish know that there were items they couldn’t reconcile. Family members of Molley Lanham and Thomas Grill wept at the decision to declare a mistrial.

Silva, of Hamlet, was charged May 22, 2020, with two felony counts of aiding, inducing or causing murder in the perpetration of a robbery and two felony counts of aiding, inducing or causing attempted robbery in connection with the Feb. 25, 2019, shooting deaths of Molley Lanham, 19, and Thomas Grill, 18.

Fish initially called the jurors into the courtroom to ask them what exactly was the gridlock. The presiding juror told the court the jurors felt there were some evidence gaps that “didn’t provide an agreeable assessment of what happened.”

Fish then dismissed the jurors and asked the attorneys what they thought they could do to help them get through. Deputy Prosecutor Armando Salinas said he was at a loss and wasn’t clear on what they didn’t understand; defense co-counsel John Cantrell said he didn’t think they could give anything other than supplemental instruction.

When Fish called the jurors back in, the presiding juror said he and the jurors were at an impasse “on all counts.”

Cantrell said afterward that he believed a hung jury “was very possible.”

“I asked a lot of people about this case — we even hired a psychologist to give a profile of the ‘perfect juror’ — but there were too many polar opposite opinions,” Cantrell said.

Prosecutors contended Silva’s presence was essential when Connor Kerner — who was

sentenced to 179 years in December for the murders of Grill and Lanham — killed the couple in his grandfather’s garage while Silva stayed in the basement.

Silva, who was alleged to have been ready to take part in the robbery, later helped clean the crime scene and at least knew the robbery was likely going to take place, prosecutors argued.

Grill went to Kerner’s grandfather’s Hebron home to exchange 1,000 THC vape cartridges with Kerner in order to clear a $15,000 debt between the two of them, Grill’s brother, Daniel Grill, testified during the trial. Kerner also owed Thomas Grill 37 pounds of marijuana, Daniel Grill said.

Molley Lanham was there with Thomas Grill because the two were dating.

Prosecutors introduced evidence during the trial that started June 2, including cellphone records they claimed tied Silva to the scene and two audio files from cellphones Silva provided. They also noted and Silva’s DNA was found on a gun of Kerner’s grandfather’s that wasn’t used in the murders.

Much of that evidence contradicted what he told police early on, they said. For example, Silva initially told detectives Kerner took him straight home from Valparaiso High School after the two left the day of the murders.

As well, Silva should have known Kerner planned to rob Thomas Grill because he and Kerner planned a prior drug robbery in Michigan before that never materialized, prosecutors said.

Defense lawyers said Silva was a victim of circumstance, arguing that no defendant would start an audio recording that captured the start of Thomas Grill’s murder and later give it to police to incriminate himself. Additionally, Porter County Sheriff Sgt. Detective Brian Dziedzinski’s testimony Tuesday that Silva was likely downstairs, sitting on a blue plastic chair holding a CZ9 pistol waiting to backup Kerner couldn’t be proven, defense lawyers argued.

“This was a dumb kid who had no idea these lies (to police) were going to lead to this,” co-counsel Mark Gruenhagen said.

Silva was in the basement of the home when he heard Kerner meeting with two people upstairs, according to court documents. Silva ran upstairs and entered the garage, where he saw Lanham lying motionless face down. He saw Thomas Grill near the main door to the garage, lying face down but still alive and making noises. Kerner then beat Grill to death with a wrench, documents said.

Kerner loaded the bodies into a Honda Civic that belonged to Lanham’s stepfather, Silva told police.

Kerner burned the Honda Civic in a wooded area not far from his grandparents’ home and later told his then-girlfriend about the crime, as well as showing her the wooded area where the car was. She later reported the murders to police.

Meredith Colias-Pete contributed.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.