The man convicted of killing 23-year-old Simone Sanderson in 2012 will spend 12 years behind bars before he is eligible to apply for parole.
Kyllan Ellis was found guilty of second degree murder in Sanderson’s death this May.
For Sanderson’s family, it was a relief to have some closure knowing Ellis will be locked up for some time.
“I feel much relief that all those years that I worked so hard to find justice for Simone, to me, I did something good for her,” Betty-Ann Sanderson, Simone’s grandmother, said.
“I did it, Simone, for you. I did it and I think that’s what you’d want your granny to do, not to give up.”
In the years following Sanderson’s death, Betty-Ann hired a private investigator to look into her granddaughter’s death and the police investigation on the case. She and her husband Oliver spent many days and nights at the site where Sanderson’s body was found in Winnipeg, crying and praying.
“I thank God that this guy is put away for a while,” Oliver Sanderson said. “My heart rejoices that he’s not in public anymore, that maybe he cannot hurt any more people or young girls.”
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According to evidence heard at the trial, the single mother met Ellis the night she was murdered.
Sanderson was going through a tough time when she was killed, and had turned to drugs to quell the grief she felt from losing custody of her young son.
She was on a wait list for treatment, and her family had high hopes she would get better.
But on Aug. 26, 2012, Sanderson was killed by Ellis after a fight over his keys. He told his mother, whom he called for a ride in the hours after murdering Sanderson, that he had picked up a prostitute at the Curtis Hotel, and a fight ensued when he was jumped by another man.
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This spring, Carol Ellis testified her son said he choked a woman on the night Sanderson died, then left her body under a pile of leaves.
When Sanderson’s body was discovered on Sept. 2, 2012, a week after she was last seen, it was found in a North End parking lot hidden under the leaves and a piece of cardboard.
The young woman had multiple injuries from the beating that killed her — her jaw was broken in two places, several vertebrae had been damaged and her neck was fractured from strangulation or choking. She also had stab woulds in her upper body from a filleting knife found at the scene.
Ellis, now 30, laid low for more than three years until he became the prime suspect in April 2016 after a tip tying him to the case was submitted to CrimeStoppers.
On Friday, Justice Chris Martin sentenced Ellis to life in prison with parole eligibility after a dozen years. Second degree murder comes with a mandatory life sentence, but inmates can apply for parole after serving ten years at the earliest, or up to 25 years at the maximum.
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During Ellis’s trial, all but two of the 12 jurors opted to share their recommendations for sentencing, and half of those who did suggested Ellis not be eligible to apply for parole until the maximum 25 years served.
Crown counsel did not specify a period of time desired until Sanderson’s killer was eligible for parole, only asking for more than the mandatory minimum of ten years. The defense asked for parole after ten years, and said anything longer than that would crush Ellis’s spirits, as he hope to leave jail with enough time left in his life to become a productive member of society.
Defense lawyer Mike Cook said the convicted man’s family was a strong support system for him, and they would help him navigate the coming decade while incarcerated.