Two grieving mothers were brought together by a murder involving two University of Washington students.
This, just before the killer -- the victim's boyfriend -- learned how long he will spend in prison.
The murder in March of 2016 sent shock waves through the UW community.
"She was so beautiful and so smart," said Tracie Straaslund, the victim's mother. "She was so lovely and kind."
"I could not believe what had happened," Christina Henderson, the convicted killer's mother. "Not Casey."
They are members of a club no one wants to join. One mother grieves the murder of her youngest child, 22-year-old Katy Straaslund.
"Mostly I try not to think she's gone," said Tracie Straaslund.
The other mother is grieving, too, for her youngest child, Casey Henderson, Straaslund's killer.
"It is the last thing I could have imagined," Christina Henderson said.
Investigators say Henderson and Straaslund were high on LSD in March of 2016.
Henderson became paranoid, believing Straaslund was plotting against him. He beat and kicked her to death. Prosecutors played a portion of the 911 call a neighbor recorded for police.
"Stop!" Casey Henderson is heard yelling to Straaslund.
Prosecutors showed photographs of Straaslund on the last days of her life. It left this King County courtroom awash in tears.
"Someone she'd opened her heart to had ended her life and her killer offered no remorse," said Erin Anderson, the victim's oldest sister, crying throughout. "Only an excuse."
Then it was Casey Henderson's chance to speak.
"With all my heart and soul," he said, "Straaslunds, friends, world, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
But Judge Veronica Alicea Galvan showed no mercy. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. And she sentenced him to the maximum -- more than 18 years in prison.
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Cox Media Group
