Teen Gets 45 Years for Killing His Mother

He strangled her to death after an argument about his grades
By Luke Roney,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 24, 2021 2:10 PM CST
Teen Gets 45 Years for Killing His Mother
Stock image.   (Getty Images)

A Florida teen who killed his mother after an argument about his grades has been sentenced to 45 years in prison, News4Jax reports. Gregory Ramos of Volusia County was 15 when he strangled his mother, Gail Cleavenger, to death in November 2018. Ramos, now 17, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a dead body. Investigators said it took the teen about 30 minutes to strangle his mother at the family’s home in Debary, per Click Orlando. He reportedly used a wheelbarrow to move her body to her van. He asked two friends, who were later charged with accessory after the fact, to help him stage a burglary at his home.

Ramos called 911 to report a burglary, according to reports, and told investigators that he returned home from school to discover that the house had been broken into, his mother missing, and the van was idling in the driveway. Authorities found Cleavenger’s body buried under a fire pit at a nearby church after Ramos confessed to police following hours of interrogation. During his sentencing Friday, Ramos apologized to his family. “Not only have I stolen my mother from myself, but from everyone else,” he said, per Click Orlando. Charged as an adult, Ramos could have faced life in prison, the Orlando Sentinel reports. However, a plea bargain called for 45 years in prison, with a review of the sentence after 25 years, and lifelong probation once he is released. (More matricide stories.)

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