Champaign Teen Sentenced For Killing Dad's Girlfriend

CHAMPAIGN, IL — A Champaign County teenager was sentenced to nearly three decades in prison Tuesday for the 2017 murder of his father's live-in girlfriend. Urbana Daily Citizen reported 16-year-old Donovan Nicholas received a life imprisonment sentence with parole eligibility after 25 years for aggravated murder in the April 2017 death of 40-year-old Heidi F. Taylor. The news report said according to Judge Nick Selvaggio, Nicholas will serve a three-year prison sentence for a firearm specification in the case before serving his murder charge sentence.

The murder trial for Nicholas began just over one week ago, as Patch reported the teen pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to aggravated murder and murder charges, with gun specification, in Champaign County Common Pleas Court.

Urbana Daily Citizen reported the murder charge was merged into the aggravated murder charge during Tuesday's sentencing.

RELATED: Murder Trial Begins For Champaign Co. Teen

Nicholas was 14 and an eighth-grader at Graham Middle School at the time prosecutors claim he stabbed Taylor more than 60 times before shooting her at his home on April 6, 2017. Taylor was Nicholas' father's live-in girlfriend and the teen's surrogate mother, according to court testimony.

Patch reported the case that made national headlines last year because of Nicholas' 9-1-1 call where in the call, obtained by Springfield News-Sun, he can be heard telling police dispatchers that another personality named "Jeff" killed Taylor.

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