Missouri teen sentenced for murder of SIUE student
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A Woodson Terrace, Missouri, teenager appeared in Madison County Circuit Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for the 2021 murder of a Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville student.
The murder happened Jan. 14, 2021, just after 9:30 p.m. on Interstate 270 and Route 157.
Moneer Damra was riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle when people in another car opened fire. Damra was wounded in the shooting and rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He died on Jan. 28.
Damra, who was a member of the SIUE ROTC program and had the goal of being an Army nurse, was 27.
Investigators arrested two teenagers in connection with the fatal shooting: Jacob Godoy, then 16, and Jimmy Ortiz, then 19. The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office charged both with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.
Police said there was no clear motive for the killing and described the shooting as a random act of violence. There was no connection between the people in either vehicle.
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Godoy, now 19, pleaded guilty to the murder charge and was sentenced to 29 years in prison. Prosecutors had sought 55 years in prison.
Prior to sentencing, the court read a series of victim-impact statements, including one from an Army lieutenant who studied with Damra. The lieutenant told the court Damra had a 4.0 grade-point average and that his murder “denied the United States Army of one of the best officers they would have ever had.”
Damra’s sister gave her impact statement in court. She said her brother overcame being homeless when they were kids and was on his way to achieving great things. She told the court she forgives her brother’s killer.
“In honor of the loving, joyful, and brave life my brother cultivated, I hope you are afforded the opportunity to change your life and find a path of purpose,” she said.
Ortiz’s case is still pending.
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