The killer of Laura Szendrei has been revealed as 21-year-old Wyatt DeBruin following the lifting of a publication ban on his name.
The reveal comes three months after DeBruin was sentenced to life in prison. Up until now, DeBruin's name was protected by a publication ban as he had been considered a minor due to him being 17 years old at the time of his attack.
However, following DeBruin's sentencing as an adult in October, a judge today overturned that ban, though media are still not allowed to publish images of DeBruin.
DeBruin was sentenced to life in prison with no elegibiliy for parole this past October following a lengthy hearing on whether or not he should be tried as a youth or an adult. Being days shy of his 18th birthday when he committed his deadly attack on Szendrei in Sept. 2010, it was ultimately decided that he should not be sentenced as a youth, which would have meant only four years in prison and three years supervised.
During the trial it was revealed how DeBruin had hid a wooded park on the afternoon of Sept. 25, 2010, with the intent to rape the first woman who came by.
That woman ended up being 15-year-old Laura Szendrei, and after luring her over to him under the guise of needing her help, he attempted to force zap straps over her head. As she screamed he hit her over the head with a metal pipe, and as she tried to run away, he hit her repeatedly until she lay motionless, dying the next day from her injuries.
During DeBruin's sentencing, Justice Robin Baird said DeBruin had "tracked her down mercilessly," and that "the violence was intentional and extreme."
Baird also said the killer seemed "remarkably unaffected" by his crimes.
DeBruin is now serving his life sentence in prison with no elegibility of parole for seven years.
