WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) — A Delaware man who lured his ex-girlfriend to a wooded area and beat her to death with a baseball bat was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and other crimes.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before finding Noah Sharp, 21, guilty of murder, conspiracy and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime.
Sharpe faces a mandatory life sentence. Prosecutors are also recommending a life sentence for Sharp’s accomplice, Annika Stalczynski, who pleaded guilty to the murder and conspiracy to kill 17-year-old Madison Sparrow.
Under state law, Stalczynski will be eligible for a life sentence commutation after 30 years because she was a juvenile at the time of the murder.
Sparrow, a junior at Newark Charter School, was reported missing on Oct. 2, 2020, after she failed to return home from an ice cream trip with Stalczynski.
Authorities identified Sharp as a suspect and determined that he and Stalczynski conspired to lure Sparrow to a wooded area behind an elementary school and kill her.
Sharpe was arrested a week after Sparrow’s disappearance and led investigators to her body, which was buried in a shallow grave.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/ex-boyfriend-guilty-of-murder-in-killing-of-17-year-old-girl/3406710/