Canadian man who strangled high school sweetheart in Ohio gets life
TORONTO — A Canadian-American man who fled from Ohio to Quebec after strangling his high school sweetheart with a belt has pleaded guilty to murder and been sentenced to life behind bars.
Kyle Sheppard, 33, of Toledo, Ohio, who’d been scheduled to go on trial next month, will have to serve at least 15 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
The case arose when Katie Sheppard, 29, who worked for a dry-cleaning business, failed to report to work on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. A friend, concerned for her safety, went with her boss to her home and found the house locked.
That evening, an officer found her body, which police said had been “posed” with the hands folded across each other, on the front porch of her home. She had been strangled with a belt and wrapped in a blanket.