Kelly Dale Vokas is a woman from Ohio who was just sentenced to life in prison for the murders of her elderly neighbors. According to court documents Kelly Dale Vokas was seen fleeing from the home by a police officer who immediately took her into custody. Upon searching the residence the officer would find the bodies of John Blanc, 77, and Susan Castore, 75, who had both been fatally stabbed.
Kelly Dale Vokas would be charged with the double murders and would later plead guilty to to murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary . Kelly Dale Vokas would be sentenced to life in prison with no shot at parole for 37 years which is the maximum for her convictions.
Kelly Dale Vokas More News
A former neighbor has been sentenced to decades in prison in the slayings of a couple during an attempted robbery at the victims’ home.
A Franklin County judge on Friday sentenced Kelly Dale Vokas, 43, to 37 years to life in the deaths of John Blanc, 77, and Susan Castore, 75, in October 2020, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Vokas pleaded guilty in December to murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary in an agreement with county prosecutors who withdrew other charges including two counts of aggravated murder. The sentence imposed by Judge Michael Holbrook was the maximum possible on the charges.
A sheriff’s deputy testifying at the sentencing hearing said authorities called to the Prairie Township home after a 911 hang-up call saw the defendant shoving items in her purse and then trying to flee out the back door. In her purse they found the victims’ ID cards, a checkbook and a bag of coins, he said.
Entering the home, deputies found Blanc unresponsive in the first-floor bathroom with six stab wounds to his head and neck and Castore unresponsive in the basement with stab wounds and a rope tied around her head, neck and body, he said.
Vokas, who cried throughout the hearing, apologized to the victims’ families, saying she was not in her “right state of mind.” Defense attorney Francisco Luttecke said his client had an abusive childhood and was dealing with mental health issues and using drugs.
Julie Blanc, John Blanc’s daughter, called the couple an inspiration who lived their lives helping others