Scott City murder results in 25-year sentence

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Two years ago, Marilyn Schildt of Scott City stood at the casket of her brother, John Mayabb, and vowed to him that she would see to it that the stepson who murdered him would pay for his death.

Wednesday, two years to the day that John Mayabb was buried, his stepson, Christopher Jones, 20, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd said he agreed to a plea bargain in Jones' case because he wanted to be sure Jones got the maximum number of years behind bars possible under the circumstances. The agreement was made in Mississippi County on a change of venue.

For Mayabb's sisters, Schildt and Peggy Kelly of Killeen, Texas, it wasn't enough. Nothing may ever be enough to avenge their brother's death. The sisters wanted the case to go to trial on the original charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

"My brother did not get a chance to plead for his life," Schildt told Judge David Dolan Wednesday morning at the plea hearing, which was moved to Mississippi County on a change of venue.

Sobbing while she spoke to Jones, Schildt told him that she would never forgive him.

"Only God can forgive you," she said.

Kelly declined the chance to address the court after Schildt spoke. Both women had been outspoken prior to the hearing about their disappointment in the way the matter was handled.

Handing down the sentence, Dolan told Jones that he would spend the next quarter century in prison, and that by pleading guilty, he had given up all rights of appeal.

Agreeing to the 25-year sentence, Al Lowes, Jones' attorney, said that his client had been evaluated and was found to have some mental problems. Jones was also under the influence of alcohol or narcotics the night he killed his stepfather, Lowes said, adding that was no excuse for his behavior.

"It's a terrible crime," Lowes said.

The night Mayabb was killed, Jones, a 9th-grade dropout, had come to the Mayabb house to talk to his mother and Mayabb about letting him move back in, Boyd said. Jones had been kicked out of the house because he couldn't hold down a job and would not live by his parents' rules.

"He had a knife in the back of his pants," Boyd said, "a 14-inch knife. The argument got heated and he took the knife out and stabbed Mayabb five times."

A fatal stab pierced Mayabb's heart.

Although the case is now closed, for Mayabb's sisters, their memories are still fresh and made even more painful by the date being the anniversary of Mayabb's burial.

"We still don't know why he was murdered in such a brutal way," Kelly said. "No one ever gave me any answers."

Schildt said she was the one who identified her brother's body that night.

"It was brutal," she said. "I want to know what happened to my brother."

Boyd said that Jones got the maximum sentence possible. By agreeing to plead guilty and serve 25 years, he said, Jones will live more than half his life in prison. Under the truth in sentencing law, he will have to serve 85 percent of the 25 years before he can be considered for parole.

Boyd said he understands that Mayabb's sisters wanted more, but said there wasn't enough evidence to make a case in court for first-degree murder with the death penalty, he said. As a prosecutor, Boyd said he seeks to bring justice, not vengeance. The family has lived with this for the past two years, the prosecutor said, but a jury would have spent only a few days with it and might have recommended a lesser sentence.

"I went for a sure thing," he said.

The years Jones will serve will not be easy time, Boyd said.

"The reality of prison does not make a young man's dreams," he said, "but will be the subject of some of his nightmares."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160