Vicki Sharrock-Garnett was stunned in September by the arrest of her daughter in the killing of her roommate in New Rochelle. News this month that Kenya Tilford is accused of torturing the victim — and also assaulting or sexually abusing three other women — left her in pain and searching for answers.
Sharrock-Garnett and another daughter were in Westchester County Court Tuesday to support Tilford at her first appearance since her arraignment two weeks ago.
"Kenya is not the monster they're portraying her to be," Sharrock-Garnett said. "If she was, why did everyone always want to be with her."
State Supreme Court Justice Anne Minihan said the initial plea offer by prosecutors was for Tilford to plead guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and third-degree aggravated sexual abuse and be sentenced to 45 years to life in state prison in the September 2023 death of her roommate Concetta Morton.
The first-degree murder charge could carry a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. It is the first time Westchester prosecutors have brought a first-degree murder charge under the theory that the victim was tortured.
Cynthia Lobo, Tilford's lawyer, said later that she would discuss the offer with her client but that it was essentially a life sentence for the 41-year-old defendant.
She declined to discuss details of the case or potential defenses.
Sharrock-Garnett said her daughter had significant mental health issues but was not a violent person. She said Morton was estranged from her family and moved in with Tilford when she could no longer stay with a cousin of Tilford's in Peekskill. She said she saw her daughter and Morton together many times in the months they were together and they always got along well.
"I'm not making my daughter out to be a saint but she didn't do this," she said. "I wouldn't defend her if she did."
Morton was strangled to death and her body remained in a storage bin in Tilford's Franklin Avenue apartment for nearly a week before Tilford was arrested at the Days Inn in Elmsford on Sept. 15, 2023. A relative who had seen the body tipped off police to where she was.
The initial second-degree murder charge was upgraded to first-degree murder in the grand jury indictment after prosecutors presented evidence alleging Morton had been tortured during a 3-month period leading up to the killing.
The arrest led investigators to find other women who had relationships with Tilford and additional charges alleging physical and sexual abuse were included in the indictment.
Tilford is charged with first- and second-degree murder, first-degree strangulation, concealment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection to Morton's death. She is also charged with third-degree intimidating a witness for allegedly threatening a woman if she reported what she knew in the days between the killing and Tilford's arrest.
And the killing is not the only time Tilford is accused of being violent toward Morton. She is charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for an injury Morton allegedly suffered in May 2023, four months before the killing.
Tilford is additionally charged with second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor, for allegedly brandishing a knife at another woman in New Rochelle on Sept. 8, 2023, shortly before Morton was killed.
The third victim besides Morton was allegedly assaulted by Tilford in February 2021 and sexually abused by her in May 2021. Tilford is charged with second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree aggravated sexual abuse in those instances.
Finally, Tilford is charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree attempted assault, second-degree strangulation, first-degree coercion, third-degree aggravated sexual abuse and third-degree intimidating a victim for alleged abuse of another woman over a four-day period in December 2021.
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