A man and a woman who dated Megan Tillman on Friday and then amputated in October 2017 were each sentenced to 40 years in prison in what prosecutors called “the worst second-degree murder imaginable.” is the maximum penalty.

Tillman, a mother of two from Annapolis, washed up on the Shadyside shoreline weeks after her agreed death date (October 3, 2017), public defender Dennis O’Connell said. It’s unlikely because of the drug-induced haze.” William Rice or Christina Stallings Harnisch will be able to give you an exact date.

However, Shady Side’s body was not identified as Tillman’s for another 18 months, and while the family abandonment issue was resolved, another tragic allegation was confirmed.

Tillman’s aunt Shannon Perry told Judge Kathleen Vitale of the Anne Arundel Circuit Court, “If you want to know the horror, imagine the body parts of a loved one washing up on the shore.” Told.

Rice and Harnish’s ruling ended a nearly six-year investigation and judicial process against Tillman’s loved ones who appeared in county court on Friday. When asked if he had anything to say, Megan Tillman’s father, Jim Tillman, said he had nothing worthy of court, but he had a lot to say, according to assistant state attorney Glenn Neubauer. He said yes.

Harnisch, 45, and Rice, 47, have known each other almost lifelong and each grew up in the Annapolis area, defense attorneys said. Court-appointed attorney Ann Stewart Hill said Harnisch had a three-way relationship with Rice and Tillman after ending an abusive relationship later in life. She moved with her husband and Tillman’s sick mother to Rockwell Court.

Police and prosecutors allege their relationship consisted of manipulating Tillman, who is mentally handicapped, out of his mother’s money. Tillman’s family decided to put her mother in a nursing home, and she disappeared around the time Tillman no longer needed to manage her finances, police said.

Neubauer said it was Tillman’s money that paid for Harnisch and Rice’s bus tickets to Arizona, as well as the tools used to mutilate the body of Rice, who spent nearly four years in a homeless camp. rice field. They were extradited to Maryland in February 2022 after being arrested by local officials in Pima County, Arizona.

O’Connell, who represented Harnisch and Stewart Hill, refuted several theories put forward by the police, including the idea that they killed Tillman because they ran out of money, before launching their claims for a reduced sentence.

A prosecutor’s hearing in January, following a final inquiry with prosecutors, revealed that Tillman’s death was the result of an altercation with Rice. After her Tillman collided with her boyfriend and broke her glasses, Harnish started beating her. Rice then strangled Tillman from behind and Harnish covered her mouth and nose until she stopped breathing.

Lawyers for both defendants said the fight was fueled by alcohol and crack cocaine.

This week, like January, Neubauer was vague about what else happened that night. On Friday, he apologized in advance, first showing the judge a photo of Tillman alive and then one of his “all that was left” photos.

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The family told law enforcement that they stopped interviewing Tillman in late September 2017, but detectives said that “numerous unusual and suspicious text messages and social media posts” were actually Tillman’s. He said it was from the man who killed Mr.

Harnisch and Rice were each scheduled to face trials before pleading guilty earlier this year. A subsequent contract agreed to second-degree murder, which carries a lighter maximum sentence, but with the information available, “it’s hard to understand what happened,” Vitale said.

Still, he said he wouldn’t get bogged down in the details of who sent what message or who posted what, and said Harnisch and Rice were equally responsible for Tillman’s death.

The judge said, “This was more than just assault.” “It’s been a frightening development.”

When given the choice, both defendants chose to speak and chose to apologize.

“What I’ve done is irreversible. It’s impossible to make it right,” Rice said. “All I can do is say sorry and hope I can pay it all off as karma.”

“Sorry, I didn’t even cover what I was trying to say about her family and their loss,” Harnisch later said. “There is no way to fix this, but I will take responsibility for my role in this matter.”