PROVIDENCE – A man who assaulted and robbed an 80-year-old woman last year, leaving her for dead in the woods of Smithfield, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Steven Henning, 54, of Burrillville had pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree robbery and assault on a person over 60 resulting in serious bodily injury, in June.
On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 55 years with 35 to serve, plus an additional 10 years for being a habitual offender.
Henning was charged for a week long series of crimes that reportedly began with assault of his girlfriend in Ohio, and ended when he returned to the place he’d left a woman to die with the intent to bury her body.
His criminal acts included theft of a vehicle from Pat’s Auto Service in Burrillville, and in Coventry, he followed a woman home from a Wendy’s and robbed her of jewelry and money. Henning then strangled the 80-year-old woman and put her body in the trunk of her own vehicle, driving to a wooded area in Smithfield, and beating her until he believed she was dead.
Police say he hid the victim with branches, and she survived by playing dead. After Henning left, she found help.
He was arrested by Smithfield police when he returned to the scene the following day.
In the last 35 years, Henning has reportedly been in jail or prison 24 times in the state of Rhode Island.
Terrible person.
I feel so fortunate that all the people younger than me me are gigantic wusses.
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