Man charged in killings of mother, 3 children back in court Friday

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - The man accused of killing a woman and three children in a home on Gay Street in 2021, is scheduled to be in court Friday for a pretrial conference.

Cohen Hancz-Barron is charged with four counts of murder after Fort Wayne police say he stabbed and strangled Sarah Zent and stabbed her three children, ages 2 to 5, at a home on Gay Street last June. Investigators then used digital intelligence to track Hancz-Barron to an apartment complex in Lafayette, where he was arrested.

In August of 2021, the prosecutor filed a special notice with Judge Fran Gull to request four life sentences without the possibility of parole. In November, Judge Gull granted a motion to delay the trial of Cohen Hancz-Barron for May 17, 2022.

He is set to appear in court on Friday for a pretrial conference, with his four-day jury trial slated to begin on May 17.