An Illinois man who lured a 17-year-old girl into his home with the promise of Disney cups before strangling her to death and instantly confessing to her murder will now likely die behind bars.
Arthur Jensen, 53, was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Monday over the heinous 2019 slaying of teenager Adara Bunn in Sheldon, Illinois.
On the afternoon of 5 August 2019, the Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department said that deputies were called to a report of a disturbance at a trailer home on West Main Street.
A neighbour had called 911 telling a dispatcher that they heard screaming coming from Jensen’s home.
Officers arrived on the scene and were met by Jensen who immediately gave a chilling confession.
“There’s a girl inside, and I strangled her,” he told law enforcement.
Bunn’s lifeless body was found inside the home.
Investigators said that Jensen had held a garage sale outside his property one day earlier and the teenager had gone to it with her mother.
Bunn was a keen collector of Disney memorabilia and the killer told her to come back the next day and he would sell her some Pocahontas cups.
At the time, Jensen’s wife was out of town at a high school reunion.
Over the next four years, the case made its way through the courts where Jensen sought to have his chilling confession thrown out of the case.
In March, Jensen was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.
The horror murder shocked the local community which had not seen a murder since 2016.
Local resident Ray Huff told WAND at the time that Jensen had always seemed like “just a nice easygoing fellow”.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Quinlan told People that “this is one of the worst murder cases I have ever seen”.
Bunn, who was nicknamed Sissy, was remembered in an online obituary as a “joy to everyone around her”.
“Sissy enjoyed reading, fishing, school amongst other things. She was an all around joy to everyone around her,” it reads.
“Survivors include her mother Cassandra Lawrence, Step-father, Gary Lawrence, father Glenn Heffron, brothers, Clayton Heffron, and John Koch, Lafayette, IN, as well as grandparent, many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends.
“She will be missed by so many that loved her dearly. She was a member of the Goodland Community Church, Goodland, IN.”
