CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TCN) — Two men have been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and concealing a death in connection with the 2020 death of a woman they lured to an apartment.
WCNC reports that according to prosecutors, victim Mary Collins, 20 at the time of her death, had a cognitive disability and a speech disorder. She had dated Lavi Pham, now 27, in the past, and on March 28, 2020, Pham’s girlfriend, Kelly Lavery, arranged for Collins to join their group at an apartment and called a rideshare for her. Also present at the apartment were James Salerno, 26, and Salerno’s girlfriend, America Diehl.
Prosecutors said evidence showed that Pham and Salerno discussed giving Collins drugs to get her to engage in sexual activity with them, WCNC reports.
WSOC reports that Pham, Salerno, and Lavery restrained Collins once she arrived at the apartment. They then sexually assaulted her, used a bottle to beat her, stabbed her 130 times, wrapped her in duct tape, and hid her body inside a mattress. The Charlotte Observer reports that when police found her remains, she had been dead for four days.
Lavery previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Collins’ death, and Diehl will go to trial on a charge of concealing a death; she testified in the case against Pham and Salerno, WCNC reports.
On Oct. 12, Pham and Salerno were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on charges of first-degree murder, and they each received 73 to 100 months in prison for kidnapping and 64 to 89 months for concealing a death; the sentences are to be served consecutively, according to WCNC.
Collins’ grandmother, Mia Alderman, said of the sentencing, “They’re never going to breathe free air again, and that’s the way it needs to be. … This is a reckoning. This is a reckoning. They’re going to prison and they’re going to stay there. I have nothing to lose. They took her. She’s dead. They murdered her. They tortured her. They hurt her, and I can’t get her back,” WSOC reports.
Both Pham and Salerno have maintained their innocence and have appealed, according to WCNC.
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