A 23-year-old man from Manchester, Conn., who had been accused of the savage rape and murder of a 56-year-old woman, as well as of bragging about his heinous crimes on Facebook, was sentenced Tuesday to 115 years in prison.
Hartford Superior Court Judge Hunchu Kwak determined that Steven Durdek had “forfeited his right to live in society” for what he did to his next door neighbor, mother of four Sarah Kelloway, on Jan. 18, 2014.
According to WFSB, Durdek stalked Kelloway, waited for her son to leave that day, climbed into her residence through an unlocked window, sexually assaulted her, beat her to death with an ashtray and then wrapped her corpse in a blanket and set it ablaze. Afterward, he posted pictures of his victim on Facebook.
Durdek didn’t know his victim.
Though police found DNA on a door knob of Kelloway’s apartment, Durdek maintained that he was innocent.
“These things aren’t true,” he said in court. “I’m sorry that your anger is misplaced. That’s all I can really say.”
On May 31, a Hartford jury convicted Durdek of murder, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree arson, first-degree burglary and tampering with evidence for the Jan. 18, 2014, killing of Sarah J. Kelloway, 56, in her third-floor apartment at 52 Park St. in Manchester.
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Prosecutor David Zagaja summarized the disturbing crime.
“The victim, a 56-year-old woman, was asleep in the security and comfort of her own home when she was attacked by this defendant. She was beaten to death. She was sexually assaulted. Her home was invaded. Then as a final act, she was set on fire,” he said, calling the crime “astronomically brutal and scary.”
The Hartford Courant quoted two of Kelloway’s grieving sisters after the verdict.
“His actions show how very sick he is,” said Debbie Noble said. “There’s no rehabilitation for him. There’s no medical wonder that will fix him. He’s an absolute danger to society.”
“I never think of her without tears,” Linda White would add. “Her death was just too horrific.”
Judge Kwak showed Durdek no mercy.
“The question is what do you do with someone who [violently] kills […] and then desecrates the body to cover up his crimes,” he asked.
The answer was 115 years in prison.
Durdek has been convicted of murder, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree arson, first-degree burglary and tampering with evidence, and he’ll never get out of prison.
