CO-CONSPIRATORS SENTENCED IN POLK COUNTY DOUBLE HOMICIDE CASE
Posted: September 19th, 2011 4:16 PM
Today, Andrew Jondle, 21, was sentenced to a 50 year minimum life sentence and Cindy Lou Beck, 47, was sentenced to 20 years for their respective roles in the 2010 slaying of David Scott Jondle and Marilyn Ruth Jondle. The Jondle's were found dead on August 31, 2010 at their farm on Gilliam Road in unincorporated Polk County, Southwest of Dallas. The killings initially made national headlines, in large part due to the fact that Andrew Jondle used a reaping scythe as one of the murder weapons.
Today's sentencing proceedings were the result of pleas entered earlier this summer. Judge Eric Bergstrom, of Multnomah County handed down sentences during two separate hearings held today in the Polk County Courthouse. The out of county judge had been assigned to facilitate settlement conferences which ultimately led to the pleas.
Cindy Lou Beck, received a 20 year sentence for her role in the murders. Beck had already pleaded no contest to two counts of Conspiracy to Commit Murder on August 30, 2011, but the sentence was pronounced today. Polk County District Attorney, Stan Butterfield, said at the hearing that. Beck had conspired with Andrew Jondle to murder Jondle's parents, and also said that Beck had used a scam form of "psychic channeling" to manipulate Andrew Jondle into actually carrying out the murders.
Beck met Andrew Jondle at the beginning of July 2010 and shortly thereafter he moved into her Salem apartment. Within 60 days of living together, the two hatched a number of schemes for killing Andrew Jondle's parents. Beck was able to convince Andrew Jondle to kill his parents by pretending to receive messages from animal or tree spirits. Defense attorneys had Andrew Jondle tested during the course of the case and determined that Andrew Jondle was not mentally retarded or insane, but that he was of limited intelligence and very gullible. Andrew Jondle expressed in an interview with law enforcement officials earlier in the summer that he had killed his parents because the spirits through Beck had told him they needed to die so his parents wouldn't harm Beck's children. He further said the rent money that he stole and the possibility of inheriting proceeds from the sale of his parent's farm were, "…just an added bonus."
The two had come up with several plans that would have left the appearance of an accident. When it came time to actually put the plans into action, Andrew Jondle used their fall back plan. The back-up plan was to make the murders look like part of a home invasion burglary.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) had taken Beck's two children into custody several months before the murders. Beck appears to have been motivated solely by her need for money. She needed money to prevent an eviction from her apartment and to prove to the state that she had the means to properly care for her children.
Butterfield said he originally sought the death penalty for Andrew Jondle, but as the case unfolded, he reconsidered. "Andrew Jondle agreed to cooperate with the state in our case against Cindy Beck, if he hadn't I would not have agreed to the life sentences with the 50 year minimum." Butterfield said. Andrew Jondle pleaded guilty to two counts of Aggravated Murder and one count of robbery in July. Today the judge gave Jondle a sentence of life with a 50 year minimum. After 50 years he can ask the state for parole.
The murdered couples' other two sons, as well as Marilyn Jondle's brother, mother and step-father were present in the courtroom for the sentencing proceedings. In July and August the victim family members were consulted as part of plea negotiations between the state and the attorneys for the two defendants and were supportive of a settlement rather than going forward to trial.
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