Murder of Kaylin Gillis

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Murder of Kaylin Gillis
Location1263 Patterson Hill Road
Guilty on all counts
Convictions
SentenceLife imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 26+3⁄4 years

On April 15, 2023, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was murdered in Hebron, New York, after the car in which she was traveling turned onto the wrong driveway. The shooter, Kevin D. Monahan, was arrested after a standoff and taken into custody. On January 23, 2024, he was convicted of second-degree murder, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, plus a consecutive sentence of 1+3⁄4 to 4 years in prison on March 1, 2024.[1]

The shooting shared similarities with two other shootings in the U.S. that occurred in the same week, including the shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri, after he mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell, and the shooting of two cheerleaders in Elgin, Texas, after they entered the wrong car.[2][3]

Victim

Kaylin A. Gillis (born February 23, 2003) grew up in Schuylerville, New York, and graduated from Schuylerville High School in 2021.[4][5]

Shooting

Kaylin Gillis was killed on April 15, 2023, just before 10 p.m., in Washington County, an upstate New York county that borders Vermont.[4] Gillis and her friends were looking for a friend's house. Their vehicle was being driven by her boyfriend. Their car and another vehicle mistakenly pulled into the driveway of Kevin D. Monahan, who lived on a ridgetop plot in the rural town of Hebron, on Patterson Hill Road.[4][6]

After turning into the wrong driveway, the group realized they had the wrong address, and began to back the vehicle out of the driveway to leave. Gillis was one of four people in the last car to pull away.

9-1-1.[10] Gillis died before medical help could arrive.[9]

After police arrived at Monahan's home, he initially refused to surrender to police officers and state troopers. During an hour-long standoff, he was on the phone with a police dispatcher and with his attorney before eventually surrendering.[8] Eight police body-worn cameras captured his encounter with police.[9] According to papers filed in Washington County Court, Monahan had initially claimed to police that he had been "in bed since 8:30 p.m." and suggested that hunters had been responsible for the killing.[9]

Perpetrator

Kevin D. Monahan (born October 28, 1957) was charged in the killing. He was born and raised in Salem, New York. Long-time neighbors described him as frequently hostile and sour and sometimes aggressive. He had no criminal record in New York State but was arrested and charged in Vermont with aggravated assault with a weapon in 2001. That charge was later dismissed.[4][8][11][12]

Legal proceedings

After his arrest, Monahan was briefly held at Washington County Correctional Facility in Fort Edward, where Gillis's father is a correctional officer, before being taken 15 miles (24 km) away to the Warren County Jail in Lake George.[6][8][13]

He was arraigned in Washington County Court on April 16, 2023, and pleaded not guilty to

denied bail at a hearing the next day, with the prosecuting attorney saying that Monahan's reputation as "confrontational and hot-tempered", in addition to the seriousness of the crime, weighed in favor of pretrial detention.[6][8][13]

A new indictment was issued in May 2023; in addition to second-degree murder, he also faced charges of

depraved indifference murder." The court again denied his request for a bond. Jury selection for the trial was set to begin in September 2023,[14] but following further procedural delays was postponed until October 30. On October 25, the presiding judge granted a defense request for additional time to seek expert analysis of certain evidence.[15] The court rescheduled the trial start date for January 8, 2024.[16]

On January 23, 2024, Monahan was found guilty of second-degree murder.[17] On March 1, 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.[18]

On March 14th, 2024, Monahan was moved to Elmira Correctional Facility in Elmira, New York. However, he was later transferred to Wende Correctional Facility, where he is currently being held.

References

  1. ^ Sanchez, Ray (March 1, 2024). "'You just don't get it.' Judge admonishes NY man who fatally shot woman in his driveway and sentences him to 25 years to life". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  2. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  3. ^ Timothy Bella, What we know about who shot Ralph Yarl, Kaylin Gillis and Payton Washington, Washington Post (April 20, 2023).
  4. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  5. ^ Deuso, Caton (April 18, 2023). "Schuylerville school officials remember graduate shot and killed in Hebron". Glens Falls Post-Star. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Planas, Antonio; Stelloh, Tim (April 18, 2023). "Boyfriend of N.Y. woman who was gunned down in the wrong driveway recalls her final moments". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  7. ^ Nguyen, Thao (April 18, 2023). "New York woman driven to wrong address fatally shot by homeowner, sheriff says". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e Moore, Kathleen; Ward, Rebekah F.; Hughes, Steve (April 19, 2023). "Accused shooter in Kaylin Gillis killing is denied bail". Times Union. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d Wendy Liberatore, Suspect in fatal driveway shooting suggested hunters might be to blame, Albany Times-Union (May 25, 2023).
  10. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived
    from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  11. WNYT-TV. April 18, 2023. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on April 18, 2023.
  12. ^ Olson, Emily; Escobar, Natalie (April 18, 2023). "65-year-old kills 20-year-old in unincorporated New York". NPR. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  13. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  14. NEWS10 ABC. Archived from the original
    on June 7, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  15. ^ Arnold, Chad (October 25, 2023). "Trial postponed for man accused of shooting Kaylin Gillis". The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  16. ^ Vaughn-Holdridge, Natasha (October 30, 2023). "New trial date set for man accused of killing Kaylin Gillis". The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  17. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  18. ^ Gavin, Robert (March 1, 2024). "'Coward' Kevin Monahan gets decades in prison for killing Kaylin Gillis". Times Union. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
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