A Florida teenager who admitted killing her mother and her mother’s boyfriend inside their Palm Bay home has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Julia Egler, now 18, pleaded guilty Sept. 25 to two counts of second-degree murder in the 2024 deaths of her mother, Kelley McCollom, 38, and McCollom’s boyfriend, Matthew Szejnrok, 22.
Egler was just 16 when the killings happened.
As part of a negotiated plea deal, prosecutors dropped the original first-degree premeditated murder charges. That allowed Egler to avoid a trial and the possibility of spending the rest of her life in prison.
During the sentencing hearing, Egler apologized and asked the judge for mercy.
She told the court that she had been a teenager who made a devastating decision and said she is haunted by what happened.
The murders unfolded shortly after midnight on July 7, 2024, at the family’s home on Benchor Road SE in Palm Bay.
Egler initially called 911 and claimed an unknown intruder had broken into the house.
She told the dispatcher she was hiding in a bedroom.
When Palm Bay police arrived, they found McCollom dead from gunshot wounds.
Szejnrok was found in a bathroom. He had been shot and stabbed multiple times.
Investigators quickly became suspicious of Egler’s account.
There were no obvious signs of forced entry, and detectives said evidence inside the house did not match the story of a stranger breaking in.
Police also found bloody footprints that matched Egler’s shoes.
During questioning, Egler eventually confessed, according to investigators.
Police said she had entered her mother’s bedroom while McCollom and Szejnrok were away and took a .38-caliber revolver and a chef’s knife.
She then waited for the couple to return home.
According to the arrest report, when McCollom and Szejnrok entered the kitchen, Egler was standing there armed.
She allegedly greeted them with the words, “Welcome home,” before opening fire.
Investigators said Egler shot both victims several times.
After the gun ran out of ammunition, police said she began stabbing Szejnrok while he fought for his life.
Egler allegedly told detectives that Szejnrok eventually asked her to end his suffering.
Police said she then went back to her mother’s bedroom, got more ammunition and returned before shooting him in the head.
Afterward, investigators said Egler staged the scene to make it look as though an intruder had committed the murders.
Police have said long-running conflict between Egler and her mother played a role in the killings.
Investigators said Egler objected to her mother’s relationship with Szejnrok, who was 16 years younger than McCollom.
Authorities also said there had been conflict involving Egler’s gender transition and her mother’s response to it.
Those claims came from police and court records describing what investigators believed contributed to the breakdown in their relationship.
A grand jury indicted Egler on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in August 2024, and prosecutors chose to handle the case in adult court.
The case also attracted attention after police interrogation footage was released publicly.
Egler’s defense later argued that investigators had improperly persuaded the teenager to waive her rights and challenged whether she could receive a fair trial after the footage became public.
Those issues never went before a jury because of the plea agreement.
Under the sentence approved by Circuit Judge Michelle Naberhaus, Egler will serve 50 years in state prison.
She must serve at least 25 years before she can become eligible for a sentence review because she was a juvenile when the crimes were committed.
After she is eventually released, Egler must undergo a mental health evaluation and serve 20 years of supervised probation.
The families of the victims were consulted before prosecutors approved the plea deal.
During the sentencing hearing, Szejnrok’s brother, Dustin, described the lasting damage the murders have caused his family.
He said his family still lives next door to the house where Szejnrok was killed, meaning they are confronted with the scene of the tragedy every day.
“There isn’t a sentence that will bring my brother back,” he told the court.
The state attorney’s office said the plea brought finality to a case that had remained unresolved for more than two years.
