Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva yesterday sentenced 22-year-old Kristin Edmundson to serve the remainder of her natural life behind bars for the brutal killing of a 21-year-old Hollidaysburg woman in May 2001. Two conspirators to the crime also received their final orders.
The proceedings closed numerous chapters in a case that originated when authorities discovered the burning corpse of Shari Lee Jackson along the Janesville Pike on May 7.
In January, Edmundson began the process to save herself from the death penalty by entering the guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges. Co-defendant Marie Louise Seilhamer, 21, of Ashville, was recently convicted by a Blair County jury and will be formally sentenced to a life of imprisonment in the near future.
According to Blair County District Attorney Dave Gorman, Seilhamer will be sentenced upon the return of her attorney, Thomas Dickey of Altoona, who is currently assisting in the Erika Sifrit murder case in Frederick, Md.
Gorman said the sentence imposed upon Edmundson yesterday included the life without parole requirement for the first-degree murder charge, as well as a concurrent 10-year incarceration sentence for conspiracy charges.
Also sentenced were Scott Alan Custer, 25, and Amanda Speicher, 22, both of Boswell. Custer’s sentence required a nine to 18-month incarceration sentence for a hindering apprehension charge and five-years of consecutive probation for abuse of a corpse and conspiracy charges. Speicher was required to serve two to 24 months in county lock-up for conspiracy to hinder apprehension.
“We were pleased with the way the situation was handled by all involved,” said Gorman this morning in an interview with The Daily Herald. “All of these individuals had deals worked out beforehand and were honored yesterday.”
According to Gorman, the family of Ms. Jackson was in agreement with the sentencings.
He said Edmundson will first be transported to the female correctional facility in Muncy where she will be classified. From there, it will be determined if she will serve her sentence at that facility, or be transported to a newer facility in Cambridge Springs.
During Seilhamer’s recent trial, the prosecution painted a picture to a jury that showed Edmundson and Seilhamer conspired to plan and kill Ms. Jackson once the two learned the Hollidaysburg woman had begun a relationship with Edmundson’s roommate.
Testimony revealed the pair took Ms. Jackson to a wooded are along the Janesville Pike. There, Seilhamer struck Ms. Jackson several times with a wooden baseball bat and Edmundson sliced the woman’s throat with a box-cutter style knife.
The two then moved the body to another area and the next day, Edmundson returned to the scene with Speicher and Custer and proceeded to burn the body.
