BOULDER, Colo.—A Lafayette teen will spend up to 25 years behind bars after agreeing to plead guilty to a second-degree murder charge for helping plan the stabbing death of her mother.
Tess Damm also pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit second-degree murder in the February 2006 slaying of Linda Damm, 52. She will be sentenced May 5.
Damm was scheduled to stand trial on May 12, but she entered the pleas Monday, whispering “guilty” to the murder charge. She faces 16 to 20 years in an adult prison on the solicitation charge after five years in the Department of Youth Corrections on the murder charge.
One of Damm’s relatives said the teenager thinks the sentence is appropriate.
“She’s accepted it,” said Dennis Comeau, one of Tess Damm’s uncles.
The teenager smiled at friends and relatives who were in court to support her.
Tess Damm’s boyfriend at the time, Bryan Grove, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Prosecutors said he stabbed Linda Damm to death at her Lafayette home.
Tess Damm was 15 at the time. Grove was 17.
Police said Grove killed Damm after discussing it with Tess, who complained to friends her mother was abusive and an alcoholic. Police found Linda Damm’s body in the trunk of her car at her home on Feb. 28 after receiving a tip. The body had been in the car for about three weeks and an autopsy showed she had been stabbed 18 times in the neck.
Two other teenagers have also been sentenced in the slaying. Jared Guy plead guilty to felony tampering last year for his role in attempting to dispose of Damm’s body. He was sentenced to six months of work release followed by six months of electronic surveillance and three years of probation.
Jared Smith was sentenced to two years in juvenile detention and six months of parole for helping put Damm’s body in the car.
