Napa judge denies resentencing request from Kayleigh Slusher's killers

(KRON) — Three-year-old Kayleigh Slusher was murdered by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend in 2014. This week, hearings were held for the Napa girl’s convicted killers because they requested for their prison sentences to be reduced under a California law, SB 1437.

Napa County Superior Court Judge Francisca Tisher presided over the hearings and on Friday she denied the couple’s resentencing requests.

The girl's mother, 34-year-old Sara Lynn Krueger, is incarcerated in Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. Krueger’s boyfriend, 36-year-old Ryan Scott Warner, is locked up in California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo.

On February 1, 2014, police found Kayleigh’s body inside a suitcase on a bed in her Napa apartment. The girl had bruises covering her body from beatings and torture, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Investigators said Kayleigh was deceased for at least 24 hours before officers found her body at Royal Gardens Apartments on Wilkins Avenue.

After the little girl died, her mother and mother’s boyfriend fled from the apartment. Police officers tracked the duo down at an El Cerrito BART station on Feb. 2, 2014 and arrested them.

Two separate juries found Krueger and Warner guilty during their 2017 trial , and they were sentenced to life without possibility of parole. Their sentences were reduced in 2021 to 25 years to life, with possibility of parole.

More recently, Krueger and Warner each filed a petition to be resentenced in accordance with a change in California law, Senate Bill 1437. During the separate resentencing hearings, Deputy District Attorney Kecia Lind argued that neither killer met their burden to show that they qualified under the resentencing statute.

“Krueger and Warner were both major participants in Kayleigh's death and given their
culpability in the murder, neither of them is the type of defendant that the State Legislature
intended for this law to apply,” Deputy District Attorney Lind said.

“My heart remains heavy as we remember Kayleigh Slusher, who would have been 14 years
old today had her life not been cut short by these acts of unimaginable cruelty," Napa County
District Attorney Allison Haley said.

“The court’s decision to deny resentencing for her murderers reaffirms the People's desire for justice and to ensure that those responsible for such heinous acts remain accountable,” Haley said.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website, Warner will be eligible for her first parole hearing in April 2031. Krueger will be eligible for parole in April 2029.

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