A Napa County mother and her boyfriend were found guilty of first-degree murder in the torture-killing of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter in 2014, a jury announced Tuesday. Kayleigh had been tortured, and her body had been kept in a freezer for three days…
A Napa County mother and her boyfriend were found guilty of first-degree murder in the torture-killing of the woman’s 3-year-old daughter in 2014, a jury announced Tuesday.
The little girl, Kayleigh Slusher, was found dead Feb. 1,2014. Kayleigh had been tortured, and her body had been kept in a freezer for three days, then placed in her bed, police said.
Sara Lynn Krueger, 27, and her boyfriend, Ryan Scott Warner, 29, had a joint trial heard by two separate juries in the same courtroom that began on May 1 in Napa County Superior Court.
The cause of death was multiple blunt impact injuries to her head, torso and extremities, according to the district attorney’s office.
Krueger and Warner had been abusing methamphetamine in the months leading up to Slusher’s death, witnesses testified.
Krueger was found guilty on Thursday afternoon, but the jury did not announce the verdict until the Warner jury was also prepared to rule. Both Krueger and Warner were found guilty of first degree murder and assault on a child causing death, according to Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero. Special circumstance enhancements against Krueger and Warner that the murder was done with the infliction of torture were found true, he said.
The pair is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27. Krueger and Warner face a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Slusher’s birthday was earlier this month, according to a memorial page. She would have been seven years old.
Filipa Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi
