MOUNT VERNON — A Mount Vernon man was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life for the murder of his girlfriend.
Chad Taylor, of Mount Vernon, was sentenced in Knox County Common Pleas Court, less than a mile from where the crime occurred on North Mulberry Street. He also has to register as a violent offender.
Taylor pleaded guilty July 11.
On Oct. 26, 2023, at approximately 3:25 a.m., Mount Vernon police officers responded to a reported stabbing at a residence in the 700 block of North Mulberry Street.
Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville clarified at the plea hearing that a chef’s knife was the murder weapon.
Upon their arrival, the officers entered the residence and located a single female victim, later identified as Ronda Brennan. The victim was deceased and alone.
Also at sentencing, McConville said it was one of the most disturbing homicide scenes he’s been to.
Detectives and investigators from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation were called to the residence.
Officers also responded to a residence in the 700 block of West High Street where the initial 911 call originated. When officers arrived, they detained Taylor as a suspect.
According to the arrest warrant, dispatch received a call stating “his son-in-law had showed up at his house and told him he had killed his girlfriend.”
Family members spoke at Taylor’s sentencing, saying he has turned their lives upside down.