Second teen sentenced in killing former Longview girl

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) A judge on Monday sentenced a second teen accused of killing and dismembering a schoolmate last year to 45 years in prison for first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide.

"All I really want to do is apologize. It's all I really can do," said Cory Gregory, 18, of Moline, who had pleaded guilty earlier in the death of 16-yearold Adrianne Reynolds of East Moline. "If I could give my life to bring her back, I would."

Reynolds was beaten and strangled in January 2005 before her body was burned, sawed into pieces and hidden in two western Illinois counties.

Reynolds moved to the area from Longview, a few months before she was killed. She was the granddaughter of Gary and Judy Gibson of Kilgore.

"I'm satisfied with the judge's decision," Rock Island County State's Attorney Jeff Terronez

said shortly after Monday's hearing ended. "The family has gotten a sense of justice, and I'm happy about that."

Under the plea agreement, which came days before Gregory's murder trial was to begin in April, an additional count of first-degree murder was dropped and prosecutors agreed to seek a maximum of 40 years in prison on the remaining murder charge, rather than the 60 years allowed by law. He was sentenced to five years for concealment of a homicide.

Prosecutors also agreed that no dismemberment charges would be filed against Gregory in neighboring Mercer County, where Reynolds' body was burned and dismembered. Those charges could have added another 30 years.

Prosecutors agreed to the deal after consulting with Reynolds' family, who held vigil through a long trial and retrial that ultimately convicted Gregory's former girlfriend of murder for her part in the slaying.

In a letter read in court, Reynolds' uncle Mike McCollum asked for leniency for Gregory, who McCollum visited with his pastor, The (Moline) Dispatch and Rock Island Argus reported.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," McCollum said. "I didn't want it to sound like I was asking for less. If it wasn't for him, we'd still be looking for a body."

Terronez has said Gregory led authorities to remains buried at Black Hawk State Park that might never have been found otherwise and agreed to meet with Reynolds' family and explain his role in the slaying.

Reynolds' father, Tony Reynolds, told the court that Gregory "took the only person that ever called me dad away from me."

"Let's not forget without him, there would have been no body," he said.

Prosecutors allege Gregory and former girlfriend Sarah Kolb killed Reynolds, maintaining that Kolb was angry because Reynolds was taking Kolb's friends and had shown interest in Kolb's boyfriend and Gregory.

Kolb, 18, of Milan was convicted in February of first-degree murder and concealing a homicide. She is to be sentenced next month, and faces up to 60 years in prison.

Prosecutors contend Kolb and Gregory killed Reynolds in Kolb's car over their school lunch hour at a Moline fastfood restaurant on Jan. 21, 2005. Prosecutors allege Kolb attacked Reynolds and choked her as Gregory held Reynolds' arms. Gregory then strangled her with a belt, according to prosecutors.

The pair took the body to Kolb's grandparents' farm in rural Mercer County and burned it, according to prosecutors. Two days later, prosecutors say, they returned with a third teen and sawed the body into pieces, dumping some remains

on the farm and burying the rest in Black Hawk State Park in Rock Island.