After turning his uncle’s card game into a nightmare one night in 2020, an Illinois man was given a life sentence after stabbing and beating him and two friends to death.
The Vermilion County State’s Attorney’s Office sent a news release on Tuesday, stating that Cloanger Robinson, 22, was found guilty of the murders of his uncle, Cordell J. Reed Sr., 67, and Reed’s friends, Nathaniel N. Gentry, 65, and Anthony D. Jones, 60. Robinson was given a life sentence. On May 24, Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder.
During the sentencing hearing, an emotional victim impact statement was read by the prosecutor.
According to the press announcement, Gentry’s daughter wrote, “Prior to his death, we were making plans for my son and father to meet for the very first time. Now that will never happen. Words cannot explain the pain that is in my soul.”
“You cannot undo what you did, but you can become a brand-new person through the grace of God,” she said in reference to Robinson in the statement.
Jones’ brother was inconsolable.
“I have faith that restitution will present itself through remorse in the damages brought upon my family, not only in ripping a beloved family member from us, but also in the destruction of our family home,” he stated. “The impact is that of what my brother Anthony left with all of those that loved him, through his kindness … he served his country. He served his community in volunteering, and he served his Lord through his faith.”
The men met their demise on January 22, 2020. Reed had opened his house to two minors, then aged 16 and 17, as well as Robinson, who was eighteen at the time. However, the accused did not attend for cards.
The younger males, with knit gloves underneath their latex gloves, came inside the house.
Prosecutors claimed that Robinson once got into a fight with Gentry and hit him in the head three times with a baseball bat. The defendant subsequently acknowledged this during evidence in court.
Prosecutors claimed evidence presented at Terrion Tinsley’s trial showed that the second co-defendant, who was 16 at the time, had fatally beaten and bludgeoned the victims in addition to stabbing Reed.
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One of the victims’ family members discovered the bodies and phoned 911, and the next day police discovered the three victims had been stabbed and bludgeoned in the house on Elm Street, according to officials.
The three accused were taken into custody right away. Authorities said that latex gloves inside knit gloves that a tipster purportedly discovered discarded in storm drains blocks from the killings scene, as well as DNA discovered on abandoned items at one of the defendants’ residences, connected them to the crime.
On April 1, Tinsley received a life sentence. Another young person who has not been named admitted to robbery and consented to provide testimony for the prosecution.
Gentry’s obituary stated that he was a member of the US Army. The victims were retired, according to Ed Butler, a friend of the men who spoke with The News-Gazette.
“Those three guys all hung together and developed a really good relationship,” Butler stated.
