S. Jersey man sentenced to life in rape and beating

An Evesham man was sentenced to life in prison - plus 51 years - yesterday for murder and other violent attacks after a judge called him one of the most dangerous people he had come across in his 35-year criminal justice career.

Christopher Kornberger, 23, was found guilty in March of stabbing Krista DiFrancesco 16 times on the lawn of her Evesham townhouse, raping her and leaving her to die.

It was one of a series of assaults Kornberger, a teenager at the time of the 2003 killing, made against South Jersey women he selected at random.

Kornberger is now serving an 18-year sentence after a Camden County jury convicted him last year of attacking and attempting to rape another woman. He confessed on video to killing DiFrancesco and was linked to her by DNA evidence.

Burlington County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Smith Jr. yesterday sentenced Kornberger to a life sentence for the murder of 24-year-old DiFrancesco, the mother of an infant. He called the convicted man extremely dangerous because "if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, you are attacked."

He handed down the additional 51 years for aggravated sexual assault against DiFrancesco; aggravated assault, attempted sexual assault and attempted kidnapping of Elizabeth Loetzner-Jung; and the attempted murder and attempted sexual assault of Nancy "Kim" Clark.

Reading prepared remarks through tears, Ple Shepper said in court she still has the Mother's Day card that her daughter, DiFrancesco - who died around the holiday - was never able to open. She said DiFrancesco's 5-year-old daughter now tells her, "Mommy's an angel. Will she ever come back?"

Images of her daughter lying bleeding, cold and nearly naked still haunt her, said Shepper, who at times was so emotional she seemed to be willing herself to continue.

"I was overwhelmingly distraught when at the age of 24, her plans for the future were taken from her because of a savage attack," she said.

Clark, who survived a stabbing attack by Kornberger six months after he killed DiFrancesco, said in court she continued to have an unnatural fear for her children's security, worried they could encounter an "evil, deviant person like Christopher Kornberger."

The incident has "stolen my sense of trust in others," said Clark, who once gave her attacker a pointed glance. Kornberger pleaded guilty to crimes against her just before he was scheduled to go on trial in March for her case and those of DiFrancesco and Loetzner-Jung.

Kornberger, a slim, pale man who wore an orange jumpsuit and black sneakers, his hands cuffed together in front of him, never looked back.

At one point, the convicted man seemed ready to address the victims when his attorney, Michael Riley, said he wanted to speak. Kornberger, however, raised several technicalities associated with his hiring of a new lawyer and letters he had sent to the judge; he said he didn't know he would be sentenced yesterday.

Loetzner-Jung, whom Kornberger was also convicted in March of attacking in 2003, testified in the trial but did not appear in court yesterday.

Kornberger will begin serving the life sentence after he completes the 18-year sentence he started last year.

In arguing for the lengthy sentence, assistant prosecutor Douglas Bligh said: "This is what I would classify as a uniquely shocking case."

He said the punishment was not excessive "for the way the defendant terrorized the community with the crime spree."

Judges sometimes consider age as a mitigating factor when people are found guilty of committing crimes at as young an age as Kornberger, James Ronca, the deputy first assistant prosecutor, said in an interview after the sentencing.

But Smith and the prosecution agreed in the courtroom yesterday that only aggravating factors applied in Kornberger's case. In issuing the sentences, the judge noted the crimes were especially cruel and heinous and Kornberger was likely to strike again.

"Mr. Kornberger is a sociopath," Smith said, citing a report conducted on the man.

Riley, the defense attorney, outside the courtroom called the case "very troubling," in part, because Kornberger was a young man from a suburban background, an intact family and good schools.

Leaving court, Kornberger's parents, Jim and Debbie Kornberger, said their son is innocent and that they would appeal the decision, adding they felt horrible for the victims' families.

"I think there's more to the story than what came out" in the court, said Debbie Kornberger, before a woman who attended the sentencing with the couple pulled her away from television cameras.

"It's okay," Debbie Kornberger told her as they walked away. "It's over now."

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