| Adrianne Leigh Reynolds | |
| Birth Date: | 12 September 1988 |
| Birth Place: | Kilgore, Texas, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Moline, Illinois, U.S. |
| Death Cause: | Homicide by strangulation |
The murder of East Moline, Illinois, teenager Adrianne Leigh Reynolds made national headlines. She was beaten, strangled, burned, and dismembered by her classmates Sarah Anne Kolb and Cory Gregory on January 21, 2005.
On the afternoon of January 21, 2005, Sarah invited Adrianne to join her, Cory, and another friend Sean McKitrick for lunch at Taco Bell; When they arrived there, Sarah and Adrianne reportedly began fighting, Sean told Sarah to stop but she told him if he didn't like it then he should leave, and he immediately left.[1] In the parking lot of Taco Bell, Cory held down Adrianne while Sarah strangled her with a belt.[7]
After the murder, Sarah and Cory took Adrianne's body to Sarah's grandparents' farm in Aledo, Illinois, where they tried to burn it with gasoline. When it failed to burn after several hours, they recruited Nathan Gaudet, a 16-year-old boy from Moline, to help dismember the body.[2] [3] Nathan used his grandfather's handsaw to remove Adrianne's head and arms and placed them in a garbage bag.[3] The three teenagers ate lunch at McDonald's,[3] then later disposed of the garbage bag at the Black Hawk State Historic Site.[2]
Adrianne's parents reported her missing after she failed to show up to work at a nearby Checkers restaurant.[8] Authorities were led to Adrianne's remains a few days later on January 26, 2005, by Cory Gregory.
Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory were both charged with two counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide on February 1, 2005; they both pleaded not guilty.[1]
Sarah was the first to go to trial, which began on October 31, 2005, at the Rock Island County Courthouse. After two weeks of trial and 15 hours of deliberation, the trial jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the three charges. The hung jury resulted in a mistrial. One juror opted for acquittal, while eleven were in favor of conviction.[9]
At her retrial on February 6, 2006, in Dixon, Illinois,[9] Sarah was convicted on all counts. At her sentencing a few months later, she was sentenced to 48 years in prison for murder and 5 years for concealment. These sentences were to be served consecutively, for a total of 53 years incarcerated.[10] She is serving her sentence at the Logan Correctional Center.[11]
In the meantime, Cory Gregory pleaded guilty to all charges against him. On July 10, 2006, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder and 5 years for concealment, resulting in a 45-year prison term.[5] According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, he is serving his sentence at the Pontiac Correctional Center.
Nathan Gaudet was also charged with concealment for helping to dismember Adrianne. He pleaded guilty and was given a juvenile sentence of five years.[7] He was released from juvenile detention on November 11, 2008, after serving almost four years.[3] On April 16, 2012, he died in an automobile crash in Indiana.[12]
This case has been discussed or portrayed on Dateline NBC[8] in October 2006; Deadly Women in December 2010; E! Investigates in June 2011; Snapped in September 2011, and I Killed My BFF on LMN in August 2013. On November 9, 2020, the podcast “Court Junkie” released an hour long episode detailing the case. Discussed on November 28, 2018, on Morbid: a True Crime Podcast. Released March 2, 2022, it was featured on Crimes of Passion podcast, Sarah Kolb and Harli Quinn.