Man pleads guilty to stabbing his girlfriend, 22, to death

California college student Gina Schickling returned home to Philadelphia on June 21, eager to begin summer vacation and life with a new boyfriend.

Ten days later, Schickling, 22, was dead - stabbed 59 times - although her body would not be found until July 7 in an overgrown field in North Jersey.

On Wednesday, Schickling's boyfriend, Stephen Benford, 24, a man authorities say had a troubled childhood, short temper, and history of violent behavior, pleaded guilty to killing her and was sentenced to 46 to 92 years in prison.

"All I have to say is, I'm sorry," Benford said before Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner imposed the negotiated sentence.

Short, stocky, and heavily tattooed, Benford pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in Schickling's death and two counts of aggravated assault and weapons charges in an earlier, unrelated stabbing in a Queen Village bar.

Lerner called Benford's crime among "the worst of all possible crimes" he had seen in decades on the bench: "No sentence that the courts are empowered to impose really equates to the crime you committed and the loss you caused."

The judge also bemoaned the failure of authorities to take notice of Benford's increasingly violent outbursts since he was a young teen.

Defense attorney Francis Carmen presented no witnesses and made no argument before the sentencing, and Benford had no family or supporters in court.

Schickling's parents, Therese Curran and Thomas Schickling, read statements describing their anguish at their daughter's disappearance and the discovery of her decomposing body. They also spoke of her artistic talents, love of life, and outgoing personality.

Assistant District Attorney Jodi Lobel said that her office had agreed to the plea and sentence because parole would be opposed when Benford's minimum term ended and he would never get out of prison.

Schickling apparently met Benford when she went home for Christmas in 2009, Lobel said. The two corresponded online. When she returned to Philadelphia after the spring semester, they lived with friends.

On June 30, they moved into an apartment in the 2700 block of Kensington Avenue. By then, she was confiding to friends that Benford beat her.

At 12:37 a.m. July 1, Lobel said, Schickling texted a friend asking her not to text unless it was to help her get away from Benford.

"He's growing suspicious of me," Schickling texted.

Benford already was being investigated by police in a Feb. 1, 2010, stabbing in Queen Village. Police brought him in for questioning July 6 after Schickling's friends and family reported her missing and created an Internet site seeking information.

At first, Benford told detectives that he did not know where Schickling was, that she had walked out after an argument when he punched her in the face.

Three hours later, however, Benford said he wanted to tell the truth.

After they returned to the apartment from a Fishtown bar, Benford told detectives, he smoked crack cocaine and had several beers, then argued with Schickling about whether he would return to California with her when school resumed.

Benford told police that he had punched Schickling 10 times in the face and had begun stabbing her with a switchblade he kept in the night table.

The next day, Benford told detectives, he bought cleaning supplies, a large plastic trash can, and trash bags. He drove the body to his parents' home in Stroudsburg, Pa.; borrowed keys to their property across the Delaware in Hackettstown, N.J.; and dumped Schickling's body in a field.