Man gets life sentence in 'thrill' death of girl

An Ohio man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in the kill-for-thrill slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Lawrence County.

William George Monday, 22, of Struthers, a suburb of Youngstown, admitted in court that he twice slashed Shannon Leigh Kos across the throat, Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew T. Mangino said.

The body of Kos, a student at Choffin Career Center in Youngstown, was discovered Oct. 11, 2000, in a stream under a railroad-access road in the Robinson's Crossing area of Mahoning Township, not far from the Ohio state line. She had been stabbed repeatedly and her body had been partially burned.

Monday's two friends — David Christopher Garvey and Perry Sam Ricciardi II, both 21-year-old residents of Struthers — are awaiting trial in the case. Both have pleaded innocent to charges of criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, abuse of a corpse, kidnapping, unlawful restraint and conspiracy to commit rape.

Monday, who made a brief apology to Kos' family in his court statement yesterday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and abuse of a corpse.

Mangino, who previously said he would seek the death penalty against the three men, said he is satisfied with the plea and sentence that was imposed by Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge J. Craig Cox.

"I believe life in prison without chance of parole is an appropriate resolution," Mangino said. "I agree with Judge Cox, who told Monday that he will now have to wake up in jail every day for the rest of his life and think about what he did."

Mangino said prosecutors have spent a lot of time with Kos' family and carefully considered their feelings.

"They didn't want to go through a trial," he said. "The mother's statement to the court said she wanted to avoid the anguish of hearing what happened to her 12-year-old daughter."

Monday had known Kos — a seventh-grader and only child — for about a month before the slaying. Police believe she left home at 4:40 p.m. Oct. 8, 2000, called Monday and asked him to pick her up. She died that evening.

"Monday told us at various times that he had discussed getting a girl, kidnapping her and killing her," Mangino said. "That's essentially what occurred here."