Gabriella Long was a seventeen year old teen killer from Pennsylvania who would murder her Grandfather
According to court documents Gabriella Long would set up the murder of her Grandfather Joseph Monka, 71. Along with 16-year-old Mercedes Hall, Christopher Corteze and Devin Cunningham the group would set up a situation to isolate the elderly man. Long would call her Grandfather saying she was stuck and when Joseph Monka would come to help he would be ambushed and killed
Gabriella Long would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to forty to sixty years in prison
Gabriella Long Now
Parole Number: 569JQ
Age: 22
Date of Birth: 08/14/2001
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 08″
Gender: FEMALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS
Gabriella Long Videos
Gabriella Long Case
The girl was just 17 when she and three others plotted to rob and kill her grandfather in April 2019 for $30K in cash and his car.
Now, Gabriella Long will be spending decades in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Luzerne County Court, according to WNEP-TV.
County Judge William H. Amesbury immediately sentenced Long to serve 17½ to 40 years on each count. The sentences will be served consecutively, the Citizens Voice reported.
Long is likely to spend at least 40 to 50 years in prison, prosecutors in the case said.
It is a huge swing for Long, whose legal team was at one point considering a bid to move her case to juvenile court.
Long and three others were charged in the plot to rob and kill Joseph Monka, 71, at his Edwardsville home.
Both 16-year-old Mercedes Hall and Christopher Corteze have already pleaded guilty. The fourth is Devin Cunningham, whose trial is scheduled to begin on September 28 in Wilkes-Barre.
Details from the Citizens Voice:
According to prosecutors, Long was the key in setting a trap for her grandfather. She called out to him for help, pretending to be in distress somewhere in the home, and Cortez and Cunningham ambushed Monka, stabbing him dozens of times and beating him severely with a golf club.
All four then stole about $30,000 in cash from Monka’s safe and drove off in his vehicle, prosecutors allege.
Cortez pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in June. He was sentenced to 35 to 80 years in state prison.
Hall, who was 16 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. She has not been sentenced.
Cunningham has not entered a plea or faced trial in county court. He is charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, theft and robbery.
Long was silent as she was led into a courthouse in Wilkes-Barre on Monday, WNEP reports, adding:
Inside, Long’s mother and grandmother told the judge before sentencing that they tried for years to get Long the mental health help she needs. They said they hope she can now get that help while serving the 35-to 80-year prison sentence that the unmoved judge handed down.
Gabriella Long News
A woman has been sentenced to 35 to 80 years after pleading guilty to participating in the murder of her grandfather last year. Eighteen-year-old Gabriella Long pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree murder and criminal conspiracy in the April 2019 stabbing death of 71-year-old Joseph Monka.
Prosecutors withdrew theft, evidence-tampering and other counts.
Monka’s body was found in his Edwardsville residence, where he was believed to have been killed two days earlier. A forensic pathologist testified that he was stabbed 43 times and beaten with a golf club.
Authorities said Long, a former New York resident, was a juvenile living with her grandfather at the time of the slaying. Her attorneys had been scheduled to petition the judge to have her case handled in juvenile court. A judge sentenced her to serve consecutive 17 1/2- to 40-year terms on each of the two counts,
Investigators alleged that two of the four defendants stabbed Monka while Long and the fourth defendant were in a bedroom. They alleged the four then stole nearly $30,000 from a safe and bought new clothes and sneakers at the Wyoming Valley Mall, discarding their old attire in mall garbage cans.
Long and two other defendants were arrested leaving a Plains Township motel where the victim’s vehicle was found. Two other defendants have also pleaded guilty; one awaits sentencing and the other was also sentenced to 35 to 80 years. The fourth defendant is awaiting trial.
Gabriella Long More News
A woman admitted in Luzerne County Court she participated in the killing of her grandfather in April 2019, making it the third guilty plea in the case.
During a tearful appearance in court, Gabriella Long, 18, pleaded guilty to third degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit homicide in the fatal stabbing death of 71-year-old Joseph Monka.
Judge William H. Amesbury III accepted the plea agreement and immediately sentenced Long to serve 17.5 to 40 years on each count, with the two sentences to run consecutively, adding to a total of 35 to 80 years in prison. At the absolute earliest, Long will be in her early 50s before she is eligible for release, but could be in her late 90s.
Monka’s body was found inside his Arch Street, Edwardsville, residence by borough police conducting a welfare check on April 17, 2019.
Investigators believed Monka was killed two days earlier.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross previously testified Monka was stabbed 43 times and was severely beaten with a golf club.
Gabriella Long, formerly of New York, was living with her grandfather at the time of his slaying. She was 16 at the time.
Investigators in court records and testimony given at previous court proceedings say Devin Malik Cunningham, 21, and Christopher Brian Cortez, 20, fatally stabbed Monka while Long and Mercedes Hall were in a bedroom. Hall and Cortez have both previously pleaded guilty.
Monday’s hearing was initially scheduled to be a decertification hearing, with Gabriella Long’s attorneys, John Pike and Mary Deady, set to argue for Long’s case to be moved into the juvenile court system, but an agreement was reached between the defense team and prosecutors to have Long enter a guilty plea instead.
After Monka was killed, investigators alleged the four stole nearly $30,000 from a safe in the home and went on a shopping spree at the Wyoming Valley Mall, buying new clothes and sneakers and discarding their old attire in garbage cans inside the mall.
Investigators retrieved the discarded sneakers from the mall’s garbage compactor at a landfill.
Gabriella Long, Hall and Cortez were arrested when they were seen leaving a motel in Plains Township on April 17, 2019, where Monka’s vehicle was found.
Cunningham was arrested at his mother’s residence in Fairfax, Va., on April 25, 2019.
Gabriella Long was initially charged with a number of counts of theft, but these charges were dropped in exchange for her guilty plea.
Both prosecutors and the defense team pushed for immediate sentencing in Long’s case, waiving their rights to a pre-sentencing investigation. Before Gabriella Long was sentenced, both her mother and her grandmother spoke emotionally about the tragedy that led to Monday’s plea.
Jessica Cartman, Long’s mother, acknowledged that her daughter had a history of mental health issues, which she implied ultimately culminated in the events that led to Monka’s death.
“I tried so hard to get her help. I tried very hard,” she said through tears. “All I wanted was my daughter to have a chance at life.
“Gabby, I love you, and I’m not gonna abandon you. Because Grampy would haunt me for the rest of my life and that’s what he would want,” she went on.
Frances Monka, the late Monka’s widow and grandmother of Long, echoed Long’s mother’s sentiments.
“Underneath everything, Gabby is a very sweet person, always with a smile,” Monka said. “I loved her, I always loved her. I tried my best and that’s all I can say.”
Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino said before the sentencing that the love she was surrounded by is part of what makes Monka’s death so baffling.
“As much as Jessica and Fran love Gabby, everyone who knew Joseph Monka said he adored his granddaughter,” Ferentino said. “That’s what makes this crime so confounding.”
In addition to the lengthy prison time, Long was also ordered to pay, in part, nearly $100,000 in restitution, but these fees will be split equally among herself and her co-defendants.
After the sentencing, Ferentino told members of the media that this is just the latest stage in getting justice for Monka.
“These cases have been moving toward a resolution; we have been working really hard reviewing the case, putting our case together,” he said. “We had a compelling case and oftentimes when you have a compelling case … a resolution is reached.”
Ferentino said that this case, particularly Long’s involvement, made for an incredibly emotional case, due to the victim and one of the perpetrators coming from the same family.
Hall pleaded guilty to third degree murder in December but has not been sentenced. She agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to her plea agreement.
Cortez pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit third degree murder in June. He was sentenced to 35 to 80 years in state prison.
Cunningham, now the only defendant in the case who has not entered a guilty plea, is facing multiple charges including criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy, theft and robbery in county court. Ferentino said on Monday that prosecutors are ready and willing to bring Cunningham to trial
