For killing a woman in a Delaware home’s bathtub on his 40th birthday, a Maryland man will essentially serve out the remainder of his life in jail.
Leonard “Buddy” Church, 43, pled guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday and was sentenced to 65 years in prison by Kent County Superior Court Judge Reneta L. Green-Streett for the killing of Jennifer Leyanna, according to the Delaware News Journal.
In addition, the judge sentenced 41-year-old Esther Wright to 25 years in prison for assisting Church in securing Leyanna and burying her remains. She had entered a guilty plea to conspiracy and kidnapping.
On November 1, 2020, Leyanna’s mother reported daughter missing, and the Delaware State Police launched an investigation. Since October 9, 2020, she had not been seen or heard from.
Delaware State Police provided an update on February 22, 2022, stating that they had verified Leyanna’s bones had been discovered six days earlier in the backyard of a house in the “25000 block of Schuyler Road, Henderson, MD,” which appears to be a rather isolated region. According to court documents from Maryland, Church lives in that block.
The News Journal was able to get court documents indicating that the murder occurred on October 10, 2020, at a residence on Route 8 in Kent County.
The affidavit claimed that Church, high on PCP, grew furious because he believed Leyanna had stolen his wallet. He used tape to restrain Leyanna in the bathtub and shoved foreign objects down his throat with Wright’s assistance.
According to the paperwork, he then seized a belt and strangled her till she passed away.
After that, Church and Wright carried her body and buried her at his Henderson house. After more than a year of not receiving any information, Leyanna’s family created a Facebook profile in the hopes of tracking her down. Up until Wright allegedly told someone where the body was, the investigation was stagnant. After informing the authorities, the person found her remains.
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“This has been one of the most traumatic experiences a person can endure,” her mother reportedly stated. “When death occurs at the hands of another human being, especially in the manner which you took my daughter’s life, there never really is closure, just more questions.”
Leyanna’s friends and family said that although she had a history of drug addiction, it had never stopped her from loving her family.
Church apologized to the victim’s family and said that his client was insane due to drug use and would never have done such a violent act otherwise.
