An Arkansas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in the death of a 20-year-old woman, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Friday.
Austin Lance Grammer, 19, told officers that Leslie Perry was his friend and that he hoped to make her his girlfriend, according to a probable cause affidavit cited by the newspaper.
But Thursday, six months after Perry was found dead at his apartment in Siloam Springs, Grammer reportedly pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and negligent homicide.
When officers arrived at his apartment Feb. 17, Grammer initially told them he found his friend dead after returning home from work, but his story later changed, the affidavit said.
In court, he was accused of sexually assaulting Perry when she was incapable of giving consent, negligently causing her death and mistreating her corpse, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
At the courtroom Thursday, Perry's father reportedly spoke of missing events in his daughter’s life, like giving her away at her wedding.
"She couldn't stand when others around her were sad or down and would go out of her way to cheer them up,” Chad Perry told the newspaper. “It would devastate and destroy her to see the pain we have suffered during her death, which came way too early.”
Read the full story in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
