Inset: Leroy Johnston (Classcreator.com). Background: Viktor Vendler, middle, receives fate for murdering Johnston (WKYC).
A 23-year-old killer in Ohio is headed to prison after coaxing their 74-year-old lover out into the woods and fatally shooting him in the back of the head.
Viktor Marie Vendler, who currently identifies as male but was female at the time of the crime, was sentenced Monday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 21 years in the death of Leroy Johnston, court records show. Vendler pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and gross abuse of a corpse. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the charges of murder during kidnapping, tampering with evidence and kidnapping.
Hikers discovered Johnston”s body on Sept. 30, 2023, at the Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville, a Cleveland suburb, when their dog ran off the trail and deep into the woods, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office said. Cops arrested Vendler some eight months later.
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According to local CBS affiliate WOIO, prosecutors said Johnston and Vendler had been in a romantic relationship in the past. Vendler convinced Johnston to go on a hike on Sept. 24, 2023, for a “surprise.” But as the defendant later told cops, it was for nefarious purposes — Vendler had decided to not bring a cellphone in order to avoid being tracked.
“It sounds so bad but I told him I had a surprise for him and that was the surprise,” Vendler said in an interview with detectives.
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Vendler and the victim walked to a heavily wooded area of the park where Vendler shot Johnston dead. Cops never publicly divulged a motive for the murder.
Before the sentencing, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge William F.B. Vodrey was particularly taken aback by the fact that the defendant murdered an apparently caring partner.
“Especially under these circumstances is a particularly heinous and shocking crime,” Vodrey said, per WOIO. “I’m deeply disturbed what I’ve learned about this case and a life ended unnecessarily, cruelly.”
