Man to Die in Burn Murder
An Orange County judge on Friday sentenced to death an Anaheim man for kidnapping a woman in 1995 and burning her to death--apparently because he was angry about a $40 debt.
Gary Brents, 39, helped a group of friends beat the woman outside a Buena Park motel before stuffing her in the trunk of a Cadillac, which he later set on fire, said Senior Assistant Dist. Atty. Claudia Silbar.
Authorities found the burned body of Kelly Gordon in the Cadillac, which had been abandoned in a Carson industrial park. An autopsy found that Gordon was alive when the fire was set, Silbar said.
A jury convicted Brents of the killing in June and recommended he receive the death penalty. Judge John J. Ryan imposed the death sentence Friday after an angry courtroom confrontation between Brents and the victim’s relatives.
Silbar said that Brents was angry with Gordon because she failed to return $40 worth of drugs and cash he had loaned her.
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