For more than four years, the family and friends of Jennifer Daugherty waited for each of her six killers to be brought to justice.

The wait ended Monday when Peggy Darlene Miller and Robert Masters, the last of the defendants convicted in the February 2010 torture slaying of the 30-year-old mentally challenged woman from Mt. Pleasant, were sent to prison for decades.

“Closure is Jennifer coming back to us, and Jennifer won't come back, so there is no closure,” Daugherty's stepfather, Bobby Murphy, said after the sentencing hearing.

Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway sentenced Miller, 31, to serve 35 to 74 years in prison. Masters, 40, was ordered to spend 30 to 70 years in prison.

“We're exhausted. I think everybody is exhausted, and we're glad to be done. Now we're ready to figure out how to start tomorrow,” said Daugherty's sister, Joy Burkholder.

Monday's sentencing hearing closed another phase of the case in which six roommates held Daugherty captive in an apartment they shared on North Pennsylvania Avenue in Greensburg. For more than two days, the group beat, humiliated and tortured Daugherty. Prosecutors said she was raped and stabbed in the heart, then tied up with Christmas lights and garland. Her body was stuffed in a trash can and left in a snow-covered school parking lot.

Police did not accuse Miller and Masters of participating in the physical abuse of Daugherty, but evidence during three trials suggested they were part of “family meetings” in which they agreed with the abuse and voted that the victim should be killed.

Police said when Miller and Masters were left alone to guard Daugherty after the other four left the apartment for a time, Daugherty pleaded with them to let her go or to call for help. Instead, Miller and Masters alerted the rest of their group about her pleas, according to previous testimony.

In court on Monday, lawyers for Miller and Masters said their clients didn't take action because they feared the others.

Hathaway repeatedly said Miller and Masters' actions were callous and cold.

“But for those acts of omission we wouldn't be here today,” Hathaway said. “I'm not going to buy for one second you were afraid what was going to happen to you. I cannot wrap my head around that.”

Hathaway imposed consecutive sentences, ignoring pleas for leniency. Defense lawyers said their clients suffered mental deficiencies and childhood traumas that should have mitigated their sentences.

In December, Miller and Masters pleaded guilty to charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit murder.

Both had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, but neither was called to testify in the trials for their co-defendants. Masters testified at a pretrial hearing several months after his arrest.

Each made a brief statement Monday, apologizing for their actions.

“I was scared for my life. I should have done something, but I didn't because I was scared. Can the family forgive me?” Masters asked.

Miller, standing with her back to Daugherty's family, read her apology.

“I am sorry and I am guilty,” Miller said. “She was my friend, and I should not have voted for her to die.”

Daugherty's family asked that both — especially Miller — receive long sentences.

“You had my sister as a friend. She loved (Miller) and valued her. You didn't value her. You probably value a hairbrush more than you valued her,” Burkholder testified.

Murphy said neither deserved compassion.

“The same way they chose not to show compassion to Jennifer, I ask you not to show compassion to them,” Murphy testified.

The Daugherty family put much of the blame on Miller. Daugherty told her family she was going to spend the night with Miller and friends in Greensburg. But Daugherty's visit turned horrific in a matter of hours.

According to testimony, the group turned on her when Angela Marinucci, 21, became jealous because she feared Daugherty threatened Marinucci's relationship with Ricky Smyrnes, 28.

Masters and Miller did not intervene as the violence escalated against Daugherty when Smyrnes, the ringleader, and Melvin Knight, 24, were out of the apartment, according to testimony from Amber Meidinger, 23, the prosecution's key witness.

In three trials, Meidinger testified that Daugherty was beaten with a towel rack and a vacuum cleaner hose, and was forced to drink concoctions of human waste and household detergents. Her assailants cut her hair and poured nail polish on her.

Meidinger, who after her arrest gave birth to Knight's child, said Knight raped Daugherty and stabbed her in the heart.

“We wouldn't be sitting here today if you got her help,” Murphy told Masters and Miller.

Daugherty's family still struggles with their decision to let her go to Greensburg alone.

“My biggest regret was forcing Jennifer to act as an adult,” Burkholder said. “I would go back and do many things differently.”

Rich Cholodofsky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.

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