95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Woman gets 25-50 years in prison for landlord's 2007 slaying

Scales of Justice photo
Tim Evanson via Wikimedia | CC BY 3.0
/
wikimedia.org

A woman convicted of killing her landlord in 2007 in western Michigan and burning the body has been sentenced to 25-50 years in prison.

Fifty-six-year-old Robin Root learned her punishment Wednesday after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 60-year-old Janna Kelly.

DNA linked Root to the killing in 2015. She earlier was convicted of first-degree murder, but an appeals court ordered a new trial because she wasn't read Miranda rights.

Root owed $2,900 in back rent. She allegedly strangled Kelly during a December 2007 argument. Authorities say Root put duct tape on Kelly's mouth, arms and legs while she was unconscious, then put her body in a car trunk and left her to freeze. She burned Kelly's body in a field, where it was found months later.