Minnesota Man Sentenced for Murdering Grandparents

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man convicted of killing his grandparents has been sentenced to life in prison with parole only a possibility in 60 years.

Thirty-four-year-old Gregory Scheel was sentenced in Stearns County Circuit Court Thursday after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. Scheel admitted assaulting and killing 93-year-old Willie Scheel and 80-year-old Gloria Scheel last March at their home in Paynesville.

Scheel had been living with his grandparents. He sobbed through most of the sentencing hearing and said he was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed the couple. His grandfather was asphyxiated with a plastic bag. Scheel strangled his grandmother. He then drove their bodies to Kandiyohi County where he lit the car on fire.