Sidone N. Lake, a 28-year-old resident of St. Thomas, pled guilty Monday to fatally shooting his girlfriend on Feb. 18, 2010, at the apartment they shared in the Oswald Harris Housing Commuity, according to a release from the V.I. Department of Justice.
Lake pled guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Kalelia Vanterpool.
Police responding to a call of shots fired at 8:49 a.m. Feb. 18 discovered the body. Emergency medical technicians on the scene verified she had no vital signs.
Evidence gathered by police at the scene and by the medical examiner’s autopsy, pointed to Vanterpool’s death being caused by a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by another person, the Justice release said. An expert in crime scene reconstruction from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concurred with that finding.
Lake and Vanterpool were the only people present in the apartment on the morning that Vanterpool was fatally shot.
Lake faces from five years to life for the murder.
Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer attributes the successful resolution to the diligent work of the police investigators and assistant attorneys general assigned to the case.