Man pleads guilty in murder of Austintown woman

YOUNGSTOWN — An Austintown man has pleaded guilty to robbing and killing his apartment complex neighbor and setting a fire in her apartment last Dec. 15, but he’ll escape the death penalty.

Gregg A. Jenkins, 32, of Compass West, entered his guilty pleas to aggravated murder, aggravated arson and aggravated robbery with a gun specification this morning in the death of 45-year-old Robin Kellar

The prosecution is recommending 26 years to life in prison for Jenkins when Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentences him in about 45 days. The judge revoked Jenkins’ $1 million bond, and Jenkins remains jailed pending sentencing.

The prosecution dropped a second aggravated murder count and a simple murder count, which it would have presented to the jury as alternative charges had the case gone to trial. It also dropped a second aggravated arson count and the death penalty specifications to all counts.

Martin P. Desmond, assistant county prosecutor, said he dropped the death penalty specifications because of Jenkins’ lack of a prior criminal record and because the investigation showed Kellar was the initial aggressor, that she was a drug dealer supplying drugs for Jenkins to sell, and that the slaying arose from a drug-related dispute.

Kellar wasn’t shot, but was beaten, police said.