PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A city judge has convicted a Philadelphia man in the murder of a 15-year-old girl who was found stabbed 77 times and her body set on fire. The defendant had already rejected a plea deal in the case.
Cole Herring stared straight ahead emotionless as the judge said he was guilty in the first-degree murder of Sabriya McLean, who family members said had just turned 15 days before she was killed.
Prosecutors say Herring and McLean met online, and he eventually lured the teen over to his place in November 2017.
When she didn’t comply to a sexual demand, they say, he punched her in the face, knocking her out. They say he then bound her hands, taped her mouth, and eventually stabbed her 77 times as she screamed for her life.
Prosecutors say he then set her body on fire near 49th and Walnut streets.
Herring’s attorney didn’t argue the abuse of corpse charge, but pointed to the 26-year-old’s father as the possible killer, which the judge rejected.
First-degree murder convictions have an automatic life sentence.
During the hearing, McLean’s father called his daughter an angel who was deeply loved and cherished, and the judge said it was one of the most horrific cases she’s seen in her career.