Ohio Men Sentenced To Prison For Brutal Murders Of 14-Year-Old Girl And Her Father

Three men were sentenced by a judge on Thursday in Cuyahoga County for brutally murdering a teenage girl and her father in 2018.

Koddii Gibson, 25, Ronald Newberry, 27, and Demarcus Sheeley, 28, were all convicted at separate trials: Gibson's jury found him guilty on Dec. 14, according to Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO; Newberry's found him guilty on March 17, according to the station; and Sheeley pleaded guilty to lesser charges on March 18, they reported.

The jury had rejected the death penalty against Gibson after his trial and recommended parole after 30 years, according to court documents; prosecutors dismissed the capital murder charges against Newberry and Sheeley in the wake of that decision, according to Cleveland.com.

Judge Kelly Ann Gallagher sentenced all three men on Thursday. Newberry and Gibson, both convicted of multiple counts of aggravated murder, arson, kidnapping and more, were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole: Gibson must serve 50 years in order to be eligible for parole, while Newberry must serve 65 years before he is eligible for parole, according to court documents

Sheeley, who pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was also credited 3 years, according to court documents. Prosecutors had dropped all other counts against him, according to the Associated Press. 

While Newberry did not speak during his sentencing, Gibson apologized in a statement. 

“Like a tidal wave, my choices have rippled through the Bradley’s homes and my own,” said Gibson, according to the Associated Press. “For that, I’ll always be sorry.”

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Gregory Paul said the crimes were a result of “a barbarism that I cannot explain,” according to Cleveland.com.

East Cleveland Police responded to a reported burning car on Oct. 10, 2018, where they discovered the bodies of a man and his daughter, according to Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC at the time. They were identified as Paul Bradley, 39, and his daughter, Paris Bradley, 14; the car was a rental in Paul Bradley's name.

Newberry, Gibson, and Sheeley have now been convicted of breaking into Paul Bradley’s home.

Gibson, who did not say how the three knew Bradley, told investigators that they three intended to rob Bradley — and did not postpone their plan after seeing Paris Bradley was staying at the home that night, according to Cleveland.com.

Gibson broke in through a window, prosecutors said, then let the other three in through the backdoor. After ransacking the basement, the three forced the father and daughter out of bed at gunpoint, then beat Paul Bradley, demanding money, and eventually tied him up with duct tape and extension cords.

They then forced Paul and Paris Bradley from their home, with Newberry and Sheeley taking Paul Bradley in his rental car and Gibson following with Paris in a second car, prosecutors say. They held the pair for five hours, eventually deciding, while parked at an abandoned house in East Cleveland, to murder the two and burn them in their car.

The trio tortured Paris Bradley, causing injuries to her skull and brain, according to WKYC, and then put her in the rental car next to her father, where they shot her multiple times in the head.

Paul Bradley suffered blunt force injuries from a beating or beatings but was still alive when Newberry drove him and the body of Paris Bradley to a vacant lot. The car was then set on fire with both the victims inside; Paul Bradley's death was caused by a combination of blunt force trauma and smoke inhalation, the coroner ruled.

Police were not able to determine who shot Paris Bradley, though Gibson said it was Sheeley.

When Sheeley's sentence was announced in court, the Bradley family "exchanged words" with the Sheeley family and the two were separated by bailiffs, Cleveland.com reported.

“Our lives will forever be changed" Bradley’s girlfriend said to the court during the sentencing hearing. "The fact that people wake up and decide they are in charge of whether someone lives or dies is so unfair.”