JOPLIN, Mo. —
Darren Winans on Wednesday was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the October 2008 murders of Robert and Ellen Sheldon, of rural Carthage.
Winans, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case. He had faced the possibility of the death penalty if he was convicted of the original charge of first-degree murder.
Also part of the sentence handed down by Judge Gayle Crane was two 20-year sentences for two counts of armed criminal action, a 15-year sentence for first-degree burglary and a seven-year sentence for felony stealing in a separate case. All are consecutive, to be served one after the other.
Co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin, 20, of Springfield, pleaded guilty last July to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and burglary in a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He committed suicide two days later at the Jasper County Jail.
Investigators believe Laurin stabbed the Sheldons and their dog, while Winans waited outside, though he later went inside to see the murder scene.
Robert Sheldon Jr. said after the sentencing that though he had some regrets that Winans wouldn’t receive the death penalty, he was “ecstatic” about the sentence Winans received.
“He’s done,” Sheldon said. “He’s going away forever. He’ll never see the light of day.”
Sheldon said Winans’ situation appears to have been the culmination of a life of drug abuse and he hopes others see it as a caution.
“It’s not worth it,” he said. “It will never be worth it.”
