VIRGINIA, Minn. — Thursday would have marked the 21st birthday of Jaysen Greenwood.
It’s a day when he would typically gather with those closest to him for a meal and cake, family members said.
That get-together will still happen — but Jaysen won’t be there, his mother, Jessica Rootes, told a judge Wednesday at the sentencing for Dylan Bernard Gilbertson, her son’s confessed killer.
“Because of Dylan, we won’t be able to celebrate with Jaysen,” Rootes said. “Instead, we’ll be gathering with friends and family to wonder what would’ve been.”
St. Louis County District Judge James Florey heard emotional statements from three family members before sentencing Gilbertson to 35 years in prison — an above-guideline term for intentional second-degree murder.
Gilbertson, 19, pleaded guilty last month to killing Greenwood, his roommate, inside their Hibbing apartment on May 19.
Authorities said Greenwood was stabbed multiple times, strangled and beaten before his body was transported to an old mine pit in Mountain Iron and set on fire. His charred remains were found the next day.
At an emotional court hearing, Greenwood’s family members described him as a soft-spoken kid with an outgoing personality.
Jazlyn Greenwood, a sister of the victim, told the judge that Gilbertson “took the most kindhearted person off this earth.”
“It will never be the same,” she said. “Our lives have changed before our eyes. It feels so unreal. Like we’re waiting to wake up from a horrible nightmare.”
Rootes said her son had a “heart of gold.”
“He was always making people smile,” she said. “He loved family and friends to no end. He was very generous — almost to a fault.”
Karen Mannelin described the pain of having her grandson ripped from her life so suddenly.
“We never got to say goodbye,” she said in a letter to the court. “When we saw him next, he was resting in an urn at the funeral home.”
Greenwood’s parents said they were left without a satisfactory explanation of the events that led to their son’s death.
Gilbertson, who described himself as a friend of Greenwood’s, had testified that the incident was sparked by methamphetamine use, admitting that he stabbed and beat Greenwood. Authorities said his explanation failed to account for all the evidence, including the indications that Greenwood had been strangled.
“We’ll never know the full truth,” Rootes said after the hearing.
Gilbertson accepted the 35-year term as part of a plea agreement with the St. Louis County attorney’s office on Nov. 18. The sentence is approximately 10 years longer than guideline recommendations for the charge.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to seek a grand jury indictment for premeditated first-degree murder.
Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Karl Sundquist cited the extreme “brutality” of the killing in seeking the aggravated sentence.
Sundquist said it was particularly disturbing that Gilbertson did not just stop after stabbing Greenwood, but chose to continue the vicious assault and then engage in a cover-up by disposing of the body and cleaning the bloodied apartment.
“This is someone who has taken it way too far,” the prosecutor said. “He never had to bludgeon him. He never had to take him to that pit and burn his body.”
Defense attorney Todd Deal called his client a “good kid.” He acknowledged that Gilbertson’s actions were “horrific,” but attributed the incident to his drug-altered state.
“Mr. Greenwood was a good friend of his,” Deal said. “This awful outcome is something he’ll carry with him forever.”
Gilbertson rose to address to the judge briefly before receiving his formal sentence.
“Sorrow is what I feel everyday,” he said. “Not just for the crime I’ve committed, but for the loss of my friend. Jaysen will never leave my thoughts.”
In handing down the sentence, Florey denounced illegal drug use, which he said creates an “absolute scourge” on communities and erodes at the quality of life.
“These things are unexplainable,” the judge said. “No one can explain how two people who were friends ended up in this situation.”
Florey noted that Gilbertson could be released from prison at a relatively young age. He must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence, making him eligible for release in about 23 years.
While the hearing closed the book on Greenwood’s killer, two other co-defendants still face charges related to an alleged cover-up of the crime.
Sean Joseph Powers, 19, and Julianna Christine Sala, 17, are charged with aiding an offender. Authorities allege that Sala helped transport the body to Mountain Iron and that Powers cleaned the apartment to help destroy evidence.
Powers is due back in court next month, while a motion is pending to have Sala certified as an adult.