Willa Blanc and her son, Louis Wilkinson.
file photo
(Hebron, Ky.) - The woman who kidnapped a reclusive millionaire from his Hebron home will do life in prison.
Union resident Willa Blanc was in Boone Circuit Court Thursday where she pleaded guilty to a charge of capital kidnapping. Prosecutor Linda Tally Smith agreed to dismiss a charge of Murder in exchange for the plea.
A cleaning maid for the vicitim, Blanc kidnapped 73-year-old Walter Sartory in February 2009 and gained access to his accounts which contained over $1 million.
Sartory – a retired scientist - died after four days being held in Blanc’s basement.
His body was burned and the remains dumped in a central Indiana field. The remains were eventually found after a friend of Sartory’s living in Virginia alerted police that she had not heard from him.
Blanc, 50, will get life in prison when sentenced next month. She had faced a possible death sentence. Kentucky law allows such a punishment when a kidnapping victim dies while under the perpetrator’s control.
Blanc must also testify against her son, Louis Wilkinson, in his trial next month as he faces the same kidnapping and murder charges. Wilkinson, 30, allegedly assisted Blanc with the kidnapping and disposal of Sartory’s body.
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