Man from Republic Sentenced in Murder Case

A teenager from Republic has been sentenced after pleading guilty to stabbing a women to death in 2016.

Trystan Westrip was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Westrip admitted to officers that he killed Mary Shisler,80, in 2016 after breaking into her home and stabbing her multiple times in the head. He then attempted to set the home on fire.

After investigators arrived at Shisler’s home, they found a bottle of lighter fluid that had been cut open as well as a match placed inside a roll of toilet paper. A neighbor, who called police, had turned off a gas heater and the burner of a stove that Westrip had allegedly turned on.

Authorities were able to track down Westrip, who admitted to killing the woman, and even assisted authorities in locating her body in a field near the house.

Westrip was a runaway who claimed he was trying to drive to Canada, but stopped at Shisler’s home because he didn’t believe his vehicle would make it that far.