Jamie Jaramillo says her daughter Kaytlin Root was her best friend.  On Tuesday, Jaramillo had to go to court again, once again listening as the prosecutor and witnesses recounted the events that led to Root’s murder in Krug Park.  Root was found by a runner along one of the park’s remote biking and running trails on October, 16, 2016.

Last week, Sebastian Dowell was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.  On Tuesday it was co-defendant Amanda Bennett’s turn. Bennett, 17, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in February after she was certified for trial as an adult. Bennett turned 17 on the day she was charged with the murder.

Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins once again laid out the circumstances that led up to the killing.

“She is no more responsible, and certainly no less responsible, than her co-defendant,” Scroggins told the judge. “If ever there were two remorseless, off-track individuals, it’s these two.”

Bennett offered a tearful apology to Root’s family, saying Kaytlin was an amazing person, and she was sad to have to learn that fact in this way.

“I apologize to you all,” Bennett said to the 40 or more supporters and family members of the victim. “I know it’s not possible, but if it was, I would gladly lay down my life for Kaytlin, and stand up to Sebastian.”

“That is the biggest crock,” Jaramillo said. “She is selfish. She shows no remorse. She is not sorry for what she did.”

Scroggins once again defended his decision not to charge Bennett and Dowell with first-degree murder, even though he told the judge it could have been charged that way.

Scroggins noted that that charge carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole for young defendants. He said it is more appropriate for a parole board 25 years from now to decide whether she has changed, and should be set free, or, if not, that she should spend the rest of her life behind bars.

“We all have strong feelings about this case now,” Scroggins said. “Over time we will become more objective, and make a better determination.”

“That makes me angry,” said Jaramillo. “I think it should have been first degree murder. It was premeditated. They initiated it. They had a plan.”

The hearing was delayed for more than an hour, owing largely to some new evidence that surfaced, a letter Bennett sent to Dowell while in jail, that apparently included a a vial of her blood that had been in a used soap wrapper. “It still has soap in it,” she wrote, “so don’t drink it.”

“I have the most amazing blood,” she wrote, “My blood won’t die. It won’t even clot.”

“We are famous capital murderers, baby, just like Bonnie and Clyde.”

During interviews, the defendants made reference to what one detective called “dark religion,” to the killing being part of a “ritual sacrifice.”

Circuit Judge Patrick Robb ordered Bennett to serve a life prison term. He told Bennett that it’s hard for him to fathom where a person develops the mindset to kill someone as part of a religious belief. He said such a person is more typically referred to as a psychopath, and told Bennett “you said so yourself, that’s what you are.”

“Noting all the circumstances, I can’t see ordering anything less than the maximum sentence,” Robb told Bennett.  He imposed a prison term of life behind bars.

Even though she says Kaytlin will always be with us, after the hearing Jaramillo said she’s not satisfied with the sentence.

“It’s not enough,” she said.