Murder of Adrianne Reynolds

Adrianne Leigh Reynolds was originally from Kilgore, Texas, and moved to East Moline, Illinois, at age 16 to live with her grandfather and step-grandmother, Tony and Joann Reynolds. In November 2004 she began attending the Black Hawk College Outreach Center to earn her GED, with the goal of joining the Marines. There she met fellow students Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory.

Kolb, described as a popular student at the Outreach Center, lived with her mother and stepfather in nearby Milan, Illinois. Gregory had transferred to the Outreach Center from Moline High School and lived with his mother. Gregory was Kolb's close friend and former boyfriend. In January 2005, Reynolds reportedly asked Gregory out, which allegedly angered Kolb.

On the afternoon of January 21, 2005, Kolb invited Reynolds to join her, Gregory, and another student, Sean McKitrick, for lunch at a Taco Bell. Kolb and Reynolds began fighting in the parking lot; when McKitrick told Kolb to stop, she told him to leave if he did not like it, and he did so. Kolb then began strangling Reynolds, and Gregory finished the strangulation using a belt.

After the killing, Kolb and Gregory transported Reynolds's body to Kolb's grandparents' farm in Aledo, Illinois, where they attempted to burn it with gasoline. When the body failed to burn after several hours, they recruited a 16-year-old acquaintance from Moline to help dismember it. That teen used his grandfather's handsaw to remove Reynolds's head and arms, which were placed in a garbage bag. The three teenagers then ate lunch at a McDonald's before disposing of the bag at the Black Hawk State Historic Site.

Reynolds's parents reported her missing after she failed to appear for a shift at a nearby Checkers restaurant. Authorities were led to her remains on January 26, 2005, by Gregory.

Kolb and Gregory were each charged on February 1, 2005, with two counts of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide; both initially pleaded not guilty. Kolb's first trial, beginning October 31, 2005, at the Rock Island County Courthouse, ended in a mistrial after a jury deadlocked 11–1 in favor of conviction following roughly 15 hours of deliberation. At her retrial on February 6, 2006, in Dixon, Illinois, Kolb was convicted on all counts and later sentenced to 48 years for murder and 5 years for concealment, served consecutively for a total of 53 years; she is incarcerated at Logan Correctional Center.

Gregory pleaded guilty to all charges and, on July 10, 2006, was sentenced to 40 years for murder and 5 years for concealment, a total of 45 years; he is held at Pontiac Correctional Center.

The teen who helped dismember the body was charged with concealment, pleaded guilty, and received a juvenile sentence of five years, being released on November 11, 2008. He died in an automobile crash in Indiana on April 16, 2012.