Second Teen Gets 120 Years For McClendon Murders
CROWN POINT, Ind. (CBS) - A second northwest Indiana teen was sentenced to 120 years in prison Thursday for the slaying of a couple described in court as community leaders, role models and great parents.
On Oct. 19, 2009, the bodies of 76-year-old Ruby and 78-year-old Milton McClendon were found in a Cook County Forest Preserve. Their car was found later on the Dan Ryan Expy. near 55th Street, and a witness described two men walking away from the vehicle.
The couple had been robbed at their Hammond home and then shot to death. Jewelry and a rifle were among the items taken.
On Thursday, 18-year-old Reo Thompson of Hammond was sentenced to 120 years in prison after pleading guilty on Oct. 19 to two counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery, according to a release from the Lake County Prosecutor's office.
Gregory Brooks, 19, of Hammond, was sentenced on Tuesday to 120 years in prison. He pleaded guilty Oct. 14 to two counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery, the release said.
The suspects admitted that on Oct. 18, 2009, they went to the door and fabricated a story regarding car trouble. When Milton McClendon attempted to close the door, Brooks and Thompson forced their way in, the release said.
They held the McClendons at gunpoint and demanded money and valuables. They eventually took keys and $50 from a purse, gold jewelry and a small handgun from a dresser, along with cash, jewelry, a cell phone and two more guns, the release said.
After first locking the couple in closet, they let them out and ordered them into the trunk of their Cadillac, then drove to a forest preserve near 154th and Pulaski in Calumet City, the release said. They ordered the couple out of the trunk and shot Milton McClendon in the arm, shoulder and head, then shot Ruby McClendon in her head.
Brooks sold the jewelry to a shop for $70, the release said. When he was arrested in Chicago on Oct. 23, 2009, he was wearing a bracelet with the names of the McClendon's children and grandchildren on each link.
Prior to Brooks' sentencing on Tuesday, Garrard McClendon, the couple's youngest son and a former CLTV anchor, told a courtroom packed with family, friends and neighbors, many wearing white ribbons, "I have my father's voice; I have my mother's eyes, I am sad today, very sad."
He said in October 2009 his parents had just celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary and the family was planning to celebrate upcoming birthdays. "Instead we were on the news talking about our parents' bodies being found in a forest preserve," he said.
"I loved my parents," McClendon said. "They were giving people. They would have given you (Brooks and Thompson) money; they would have shown you how to get a job and mentored you."
He concluded by telling the defendants, "A car is no reason to kill a human being; a few dollars is no reason to kill a human being; a cell phone and some jewelry is no reason to kill a human being."
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
