by Michael Kiefer - Jan. 9, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
A Phoenix man was sentenced Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court to 29 ½ years in prison for killing his girlfriend, then leaving her 2- and 3-year-old children alone in their apartment and driving her body to Mexico.
Ryan Chronis, 26, was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder for killing Brianna Wood, 22, on July 4, 2007.
He was also convicted of two counts of child abuse for leaving the children to fend for themselves. A neighbor spotted them unattended on the balcony of the apartment Wood and Chronis shared in the 17000 block of North Cave Creek Road.
Chronis was pulled over by police in Rocky Point, also known as Puerto Peñasco, Sonora. A police officer found Wood's body in the trunk. She had been stabbed and her throat had been slit.
Prosecutor Eric Basta said that the two had quarreled over Chronis smoking crack cocaine.
But during the sentencing, Judge Timothy Ryan told Chronis that "this was not just the drug's doing."
"It was the act of a bully and a coward, and trying to hide behind drugs does not change that," Ryan said.
Chronis apologized to Wood's family, who asked for a harsher sentence than Ryan could impose under the law and the circumstances of Chronis' plea agreement.
"To call me a monster, I agree with that," Chronis said. "I agree with you that I deserve more than I'm going to get."
Ryan sentenced him to 22 years in prison for the murder, followed by two consecutive sentences of 3.75 years for the two counts of child abuse.
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