The third of three defendants was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for a kidnapping that led to the murder of an Excelsior Springs woman more than three years ago.
Erik R. Zimmerman, 32, pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to a charge of kidnapping/facilitating a felony/inflicting injury/terrorizing... Zimmerman had already pleaded guilty in Ray County to second-degree murder, armed criminal action and knowingly burning or exploding. In August, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder charge, 30 years for armed criminal action and four years for the third charge.
[James] Reardon, who was convicted in a weeklong Ray County jury trial last summer, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, 30 years for armed criminal action and four years for knowingly burning or exploding. A few months later, on Sept. 12, he pleaded guilty in Clay County to the same kidnapping charge that Zimmerman faced and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
[Jennifer] Saling... pleaded guilty in Clay County in May 2010 to a kidnapping charge and began serving a 12-year sentence for that crime; just a few months later in July 2010, she entered a guilty plea to a second-degree murder charge in Ray County and was sentenced to 18 years.
