Killer of Glouco athlete sentenced to 50 years in prison

 During an emotional hearing that lasted nearly two hours, Stephen Headley was sentenced to 50 years in state prison today for the murder of a popular South Jersey softball star at a Southampton soccer complex.

The family and friends of Nicole Ayres pleaded with Headley to explain why he stabbed the college student to death on Sept. 13, 2010. But the 30-year-old Southampton man said only that he was "terribly sorry."

Headley has a disability and had been prescribed drugs for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to his public defender, Cedric Edwards.

At the hearing, in state Superior Court in Mount Holly, Edwards asked Judge James W. Palmer Jr. to consider giving his client less than the 50 years called for in a plea arrangement reached last month.

Palmer declined, citing the "depravity" of the crime, in which Headley inflicted 36 stab wounds. Headley also was previously convicted of child endangerment for fondling an 11-year-old girl, the judge said.

"You gave all of us a life sentence," Rick Ayres told his daughter's killer in the courtroom. His wife, Gina, sat in the front row, sobbing and cradling an urn that held their child's ashes.

Nicole Ayres' parents were among nearly 20 family members and friends of the victim who attended. State Sen. Diane Allen (R., Burlington), an outspoken victims' rights advocate, also was present.

On the opposite side of the room were Headley's mother, grandmother, and sister Christa.

"My family is so deeply sorry. We don't know what happened and never will," Christa Headley said to those assembled.

 Stephen Headley pleaded guilty last month in the death of Ayres, 22, of Westville. He had previously met the ace Deptford High and Fordham University pitcher at a party.

Authorities said that Headley asked Ayres to meet him, then killed her after the two got into an argument on a desolate athletic field shortly after midnight.

Under the terms of the sentencing, Headley will serve 42 1/2 years without parole.

Ayres' extended family fought vigorously for a harsh sentence by enlisting the support of an online community of victims' rights advocates. The family, based in Gloucester County, gathered more than 6,000 online signatures and submitted petitions to the judge.

The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office had pushed for a life sentence, noting Headley's previous sex offense and because the crime was "particularly brutal."

His client pleaded guilty because he recognized "what he did was wrong," Edwards said.

Ayres, of Westville, was an All-South Jersey athlete at Deptford High and Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year in 2007 at Fordham University.