Peoria man gets life sentence in 'brutal and heinous' murder of Mona Ellison
A Peoria man convicted of the "brutal" murder of his former girlfriend has been sentenced to life in prison.
Christopher Sanders was sentenced Thursday in the 2021 slaying of Mona Ellison. Judge Katherine Gorman imposed the sentence on the 45-year-old Sanders in Peoria County court.
Sanders was convicted in June of first-degree murder in the slaying of the North Valley woman, whose body was found in a wooded area in East Peoria. Because the jury found Sanders acted in a “brutal and heinous way, indicative of wanton cruelty,” he faced the maximum sentence.
Background: What we know about Mona Ellison and the man charged with killing her
At his June trial, Sanders told jurors he found the body of the 50-year-old Ellison in an alley near his home in the 2700 block of Northeast Madison Avenue on Jan. 20, 2021. He said he carried the body back to his apartment and attempted CPR. He said he didn’t call the police because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He said he called a cab, put Ellison’s body in the back and went to the wooded area. He said he left her body there to buy time to find an attorney.
Prosecutors called Sanders’ testimony a fiction "so bad that it’s laughable.”
A forensic pathologist testified in June that Ellison's body was covered with bruises and she suffered multiple cuts and stab wounds. He said her nose was broken and she had several broken ribs, which punctured her lung.
In a Thursday press release, the Peoria County State's Attorney's Office said evidence presented at the June trial showed Ellison's cheek was cut through to her mouth, and Sanders had attempted to stitch the laceration back together with a needle and thread that he left in the wound. Ellison was alive through the beating until Sanders choked the life out of her, the release said.
At Thursday's sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Brian FitzSimons argued for the life sentence. He said Sanders is dangerous and pointed to the brutal acts involved in the murder, according to the release. “It wasn’t enough just to hurt her," he said. "He did it to inflict pain in a purposeful way. Anyone who does that has no purpose living in any community.”
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Sanders, who is in custody at the Peoria County Jail, refused to leave his jail cell to attend his sentencing, the release said. Gorman made note of that in handing down her sentence. She said Sanders was a “coward” at every point in the case, referring to how he ran after the incident, how he lied on the witness stand, and how he did not appear to face the court Thursday. “I can’t find anything redeeming about Sanders,” Gorman said as she imposed the life sentence.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria, Illinois man gets life sentence in 'brutal and heinous' murder of Mona Ellison
