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Teen gets 25-60 years in prison for murder of pregnant woman

Posted at 12:55 PM, Mar 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-13 17:22:54-04

A Detroit teenager will spend 25-60 years in prison for the death of a young mother who was pregnant.

Jeremy Lee, 16, was sentenced today after pleading guilty to the heinous death of a 29-year-old Amanda Lyn Benton of Melvindale. 

In court, the judge called this a senseless and brutal crime.

Last month, the teen pleaded guilty to killing Benton. Her family filled the back row of the courtroom, both her mother and father crying as they addressed the judge.

"He did not murder one person, there were two lives taken in the worst way I could have ever imagined," said Flo Harper, the victim's mother. 

Investigators say Lee and another man, 23-year-old Jacob Barnes, carjacked the victim in September 2016 in southwest Detroit.

They then reportedly beat the mother of four, put her in the trunk of her own car, drove her to an abandoned Detroit home where they beat her more, eventually snapping her neck and killing her.

Family says she was five and a half months pregnant with her first daughter.

After killing her, police say, they set her body on fire.

Amanda's four son's are now in the custody of their grandfather.

The second man charged in this case, Jacob Barnes, is set to go to trial in May.