Amid the cold marble, dull plaster and dark wood that make up the austere halls of justice at the Porter County Courthouse, an oasis of calm and comfort now floats on the fifth floor in what is believed to be the first victim assistance suite of its kind in the state.
A heavy crowd of prosecutors, victim assistance advocates, law enforcement and elected officials gathered Thursday afternoon to celebrate the suite’s opening.
Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ryan, who has been in the job for 36 years, welcomed the crowd that she was happy to note included some unfamiliar faces. “It means we are getting word out to the public,” she said.
The suite is the dream of Porter County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Buitendorp, who conceived the idea while a deputy prosecutor.
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said that when his staff was vacating the space for new offices in another building in the summer of 2021, Buitendorp proposed the idea of turning “a space that was dreary and lifeless” into a safe and private area that would reduce stress on victims and their families.
He said the ribbon-cutting of the suite was “a defining and a generational moment in the history of the Porter County Courthouse.”
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann speaks during the open house for Porter County’s new victim assistance suite in the Porter County Courthouse in Valparaiso on Thursday, January 22, 2026. (Michael Gard/for the Post-Tribune)
Buitendorp and victim advocate Ona Torres spearheaded the project with significant assistance from The Molley Lanham Foundation and Valparaiso’s Iota Chapter of Tri Kappa. A portrait of Molley Lanham walking on the beach in a white sundress graces one of the five rooms and informs the relaxing color scheme of watery blues and grays.
Lanham was brutally murdered in February 2019 and her family’s experience navigating the many hours of the trials in these very spaces directly influenced many of the design decisions. Her mother Stacy Spejewski and sisters Lindsey and Lauren Lanham, who are both now Lake County deputy prosecutors after their experience, greeted people at the unveiling.
“We spent a lot of time, honestly, sitting outside,” Lindsey Lanham said of the many hours of waiting periods during the trial. “We would always say, ‘We wish we had someplace to go,’” Lauren Lanham added.
“And you have to put on a brave face and just get through it,” Spejewski said. All three women and Ryan spoke also of the awkwardness victims and their families feel being in close proximity to the accused and their families. Now they have somewhere to wait in privacy.
Victim advocate Ona Torres speaks during the open house for the county’s new victim assistance suite in the Porter County Courthouse in Valparaiso on Thursday, January 22, 2026. (Michael Gard/for the Post-Tribune)
“The victims are the true reason you’re doing this,” Lindsey Lanham said. “It just feels safer, too. Safe space emotionally, but also physically, too.”
The suite has a Family Comfort Room with plenty of furniture to accommodate several people and enjoys natural light from a large window, as does the Children’s Room, which has even softer colors, two gliders for soothing babies, toys and books. “I don’t even recognize the room from when it was the prosecutor’s office,” said Adult Probation Officer Cynthia Otano.
Ryan said the rooms offer a practical solution for families waiting for a verdict. If they left the building but a verdict wasn’t reached until after 4:30 p.m., they had no way to get back in after the doors were locked.
Now there’s a comfortable space with a coffeemaker in the central outer room, as well as a private interview room that is insulated with ornamental sound-dampening tiles so children waiting next door can’t hear graphic details their parents are sharing with prosecutors. There’s also an office for prosecutors and victim assistance staff.
Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ryan speaks during the open house for the county’s new victim assistance suite in the Porter County Courthouse in Valparaiso on Thursday, January 22, 2026. (Michael Gard/for the Post-Tribune)
Buitendorp told the crowd the spaces aim to provide calm where there has been chaos because every individual deserves respect, dignity, and compassion.
“Justice should not only be fair, it should be humane,” she said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
