2nd man gets decades in prison in blueberry farm slaying

CAMDEN, N.J. » A second man has been sentenced to decades in prison in the murder of a sleeping woman at her family’s blueberry farm in New Jersey 3 ½ years ago.

Tyler Dralle, 23, of Vineland was sentenced Friday in Camden County Court to 40 years in prison. The sentence came two weeks after his co-defendant, Kwamere Benjamin, 20, of New Castle, Delaware, was sentenced to 38 years in prison.

Jurors convicted the two in January of murder, burglary, weapon offenses, and related charges in the June 2017 slaying of 45-year-old Deanna Scordo at the Winslow Township farmhouse. The victim ran a rehabilitation company and lived on the family farm, officials said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Superior Court Judge Frederick Schuck said Dralle had displayed “gleeful, gloating behavior” and a “chilling lack of remorse” after the murder. He also noted, however, that the crimes occurred during a “single period of aberrant behavior.”

Prosecutors said the two walked into the victim’s bedroom, shot her three times, and made off with $276 in rolled coins, They said Dralle was familiar with the farm because he drove his brother and girlfriend to work there.

Dralle, a former football player at Buena Regional High School, said he maintained his innocence but asked forgiveness from the victim’s family, saying he was “truly, genuinely sorry for what happened to her.”

Scordo’s sister, Lynn, told him earlier that she believes he is guilty and was unable to forgive him.

“You murdered my harmless, sleeping sister in her bed,” she said, recalling the victim’s “beautiful smile” and “contagious laughter.”

Defense attorney Jill Cohen said youthful offenders have a deficiency in their ability to make good choices, and she said her client “has learned from his mistakes.”