Baltimore, MD – According to the court documents, the 43-year-old defendant from Maryland, later identified as Lenard, was sentenced to 65 years behind bars after he reportedly killed a woman, Jenifer, in Delaware in October 2020 before taking her body to his property in Maryland and buried the remains. Prosecutors said the defendant was sentenced on Thursday, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday.

His attorney argued that his client was out of his mind because of drugs and otherwise never would have committed such act. According to the court documents,  41-year-old Ester was also sentenced in connection with Jenifer’s death. The woman reportedly helped the defendant tie the victim and then bury her body. The 41-year-old woman was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, court records say.

The investigation process began in November 2020 after the victim’s mom called the authorities and told them that she hadn’t seen her daughter for 3 weeks. During the investigation process, authorities reportedly discovered that the defendant tied the woman in the bathroom, while using a tape, before grabbing a belt and strangled the woman to death. He then took the woman’s body and buried in a remote area near his home in Maryland. The defendant was helped by 41-year-old Ester. 

The defendant reportedly told investigators that he killed the woman, who long struggled with drug addition, because he believed she took his waIIet. The case was stuck for more than a year before a witness called the authorities and reportedly told them that the defendant confided to them about the murder and the location of the woman’s body. The witness, who was not identified, then told the police about the location of the body, which was recovered in February 2022.