MELVINDALE, Mich. – A 16-year-old boy was sentenced to prison Monday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the beating death of Amanda Benton, whose body was set on fire.
Benton, 29, of Melvindale, was the mother of four boys and was pregnant with her first daughter when she was killed.
Jeremy Lee was sentenced Monday to 25-60 years in prison.
Benton was reported missing Sept. 28, 2016, and was found dead two days later in a vacant home on Vanderbilt Street near West End Street in Southwest Detroit.
Lee was sentenced Monday morning by Judge Thomas Cameron.
"This was a senseless and brutal murder where you assaulted and strangled a pregnant woman, threw her in the trunk of a car," Cameron said. "You took her to an abandoned building and you set her on fire -- her and her unborn child."
Lee's attorney argued for a lighter sentencing because he said investigators would not have found Benton's body if it weren't for information they got from Lee.
Benton's mother and father both gave emotional statements in court before the sentencing. They recalled Amanda as a giving person and loving mother of four boys.
Lee said he did not want to give a statement in court before he learned he would spend at least the next 25 years in prison.
Lee and 23-year-old Jacob Barnes were arrested in September and originally charged with felony murder, first-degree murder, assault of a pregnant individual, intentionally causing death of a fetus and mutilation of a dead body. When Lee pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the rest of the charges were dismissed.
Barnes is scheduled to go to trial in May.
Both Barnes and Lee first pleaded not guilty to the charges and were not granted bond. Lee was held at a juvenile detention facility, while Barnes is being held in the Wayne County Jail.
Barnes also was given a habitual offender fourth offense notice because of prior convictions, which holds a mandatory 25-year sentence. The maximum sentence is life, or a lesser term because of the prior convictions.