A woman who killed her track-star daughter, left the body in a park and then pleaded for the public's help in finding the missing teenager was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.
Vivian King, 43, was convicted of murder in the 1993 slaying of Shilie Turner, a promising high school athlete who had dreams of winning a college scholarship and running in the Olympics. The 17-year-old was shot five times."I did not kill my daughter," King said at her sentencing Thursday. "I know the jury found me guilty of this crime, so I'm asking you to be lenient to me."
She could have received a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 25 under Pennsylvania guidelines. Common Pleas Judge David N. Savitt said he gave her a strong sentence because she refused to admit the crime and showed little remorse.
In the two months before her daughter's body was found, King made pleas for help on radio and television and led the teenager's teammates and neighborhood residents in rallies to call attention to her disappearance.
After 10 hours of interrogation, King confessed that she murdered her daughter. But she later recanted, saying the confession was coerced.
King told police she was in a drunken rage when Turner came home 90 minutes after her curfew.