LOUISVILLE, KY – A Louisville woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges connected to the killings of two men discovered dead in their own crawl spaces, one of whom was decapitated, authorities said.

Sara McQuilling, 44, admitted guilt under an Alford plea last week to multiple charges, including complicity to murder, complicity to second-degree manslaughter, theft, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence. An Alford plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that prosecutors likely have enough evidence for a conviction while still maintaining innocence.

The convictions stem from a grisly case in September 2021, when police found the bodies of Douglas Brooks, 39, and Jerry Cardin, 64, in separate locations just days apart. Both men’s remains were found hidden in crawl spaces inside their own Louisville-area homes.

What set the two cases apart was the condition of Brooks’ body. Unlike Cardin, Brooks had been decapitated, and investigators have never recovered his head. The details of how and why this occurred have not been publicly disclosed.

Cardin was the first victim discovered, after police responded to a welfare check at his Roosevelt Avenue residence in West Buechel on Sept. 23, 2021. Officers found him shot to death. Investigators believe Cardin was killed three days prior.

On Sept. 27, authorities located McQuilling driving Cardin’s stolen truck. Inside the vehicle, police discovered evidence tying her to the crime, including surveillance video appearing to show her removing items from Cardin’s home and transporting them in the truck. During her arrest, McQuilling allegedly admitted to shooting Cardin and hiding his body with the help of a revolver that was located in her possession, along with her identification.

That same day, police made another disturbing discovery. Brooks’ remains were located in his home on Woodbourne Avenue in the Highlands Douglass area. He had been stabbed and decapitated, then hidden in the crawl space of his home.

According to her plea agreement, McQuilling killed Brooks sometime between Sept. 17 and Sept. 24 of that year, acting either alone or with another person. The document states that Brooks was stabbed to death and then decapitated, with his body subsequently hidden in the cellar.

Prosecutors said no one else has been charged in connection with either murder and do not expect additional arrests. Authorities in Louisville have not released a possible motive for the killings.

McQuilling is a married mother of six. While her husband offered limited public comment following her arrest, her landlord expressed shock at the charges, stating that the crime came as a complete surprise.

McQuilling will be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of her sentence, as is standard for her conviction. Court officials confirmed that the case was resolved through mediation and that the families of both victims were present for the proceedings.

Prior to her arrest for the murders, McQuilling had previously been reported missing for one week in the summer of 2021. Several years earlier, in 2016, she had faced a separate accusation involving the theft of a police cruiser.

Police continue to decline comment on additional aspects of the investigation, and Brooks’s head remains unaccounted for.