BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Monday, a judge sentenced a Buffalo woman for her role in a cold case from 34 years ago. It involved a burglary that resulted in the death of a World War I veteran.
Saundra Adams, 51, pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter in September.
Monday, State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns sentenced Adams to seven to 21 years in prison.
Adams was involved in a 1983 burglary along with two people whose identities are still unknown to police. The trio broke into a home on Hastings Avenue and caused the death of 92-year-old World War I veteran and purple heart recipient, Edmund Schreiber.
Monday in court, Adams apologized to his family, and his granddaughter asked the judge to give Adams the maximum sentence of 25 years.
"Every time we think of our grandpa, we remember the horrible circumstances of his death. Tied up, no family around him, and probably not really knowing what was happening to him. Who wants their loved one to die that way? Those images, they'll never go away," said Tracie Noll.
"For his family, I am sorry because I can't even imagine what they went through because I have a 92-year-old grandmother myself. And it would be inconceivable for somebody to harm her, but I didn't intend it, and when he left he was alive," said Adams.
Adams was 17 when the crime happened in 1983. Adams' attorney asked for youthful offender status, but the judge denied it and sentenced her to 7 to 21 years in prison.
Prosecutors say police were able to track her down through fingerprint and DNA evidence.