Justice Did Not Come Quickly

Breaking up is hard. Whether it be a marriage or a relationship—ending it isn’t easy.

She’d ended the relationship and feared for her life. The week before the authorities reported her missing and possibly in danger, she filed a protection order against her ex-boyfriend.

The day after the police department sent out the press release about her being missing, they recanted and said she was not in immediate danger. They didn’t know she was already dead.

Her ex-boyfriend tricked two friends with a story that there was an $80,000 bounty on his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend. They pretended to be giving her a ride to work. Instead, they drove her to a remote location and killed her. The ex-boyfriend helped bury the woman but didn’t pay the friends. Later, the ex-boyfriend hired two different friends to dig a deeper grave and move the corpse.

She was missing for almost one year when a witness came forward and showed the police where her two gravesites were located. The investigation focused on the ex-boyfriend.

Ten years after the young woman disappeared, her 28-year-old ex-boyfriend, to avoid the death penalty, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Also to avoid the death penalty, the 44-year-old friend who killed the ex-girlfriend pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The 26-year-old friend who drove the vehicle to the remote location where the murder took place pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter—the judge sentenced him to 75 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after 35 years.

The two friends who moved the corpse pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. The judge sentenced them each to five years in prison.

Ten years after the crime, shortly after the court handed down the sentences, an assistant chief deputy state's attorney involved in the case stated,

“Justice did not come quickly. It did not come easily. But it came.”

Source: MCAC, SDPB, Kelo, BIG 81

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.