Judge denies motion to reduce sentence in 2005 murder, dismemberment of teen

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- A Rock Island County circuit judge denied a motion Friday to reduce the 48-year-sentence for a convicted 18-year-old Milan woman's role in the 2005 murder of a fellow teen.

Sarah Kolb has been charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death in last year's slaying of Adrianne Reynolds, a classmate at an alternative school. In August, Kolb was sentenced to 48 years in prison.

On Friday, Judge James Teros said that protection of the public is key in Kolb's sentence and that he didn't see anything new in the motion.

Kolb and Cory Gregory, 18, of Moline, allegedly strangled Reynolds in Kolb's car at a Moline fast-food restaurant in January 2005 during their school lunch hour. They then allegedly took the body to Kolb's grandparents' farm and burned it.

Prosecutors have said the two returned two days later with a third teen and sawed the body into pieces, and then dumped the remains in two different counties.

Kolb is at the Dwight Correctional Center in Dwight, a maximum-security prison for female inmates. She has appealed her case to appellate court.

Gregory, who pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide in the murder, was given the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison last July under a plea deal with the state.

He is currently at the State¿ville Correctional Center north of Joliet.

Gregory has asked to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 18.

On Friday, public defender David Hoffman said he disagreed with the court's assessment and that Kolb's sentence should be shorter than Gregory's.

A third teen involved in the crime, whose name was withheld because he was charged as a juvenile, was denied his second chance

at parole Nov. 2. He is at the Illinois Youth Center Harrisburg.