The convicted killer of Renee Eldridge will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Stacey Gray learned his fate during a sentencing hearing Tuesday morning March 17, 2026, more than ten years after the brutal crime occurred.
Prosecutors said Eldridge was raped and murdered in her Columbus home July 4, 2015, before being dumped in a Valley, Al creek where she was discovered three days later. District Attorney Don Kelly asked Judge “Tippi” Cain Burch to impose the maximum punishment allowed telling the court it was one of the most horrible cases he had ever been involved with. “It was a person that the family trusted, I mean they knew Stacey Gray,” Kelly told Now Georgia after the sentencing.
“He had been to her home many times and I just feel you know it gives me chills right now thinking about getting home and somebody lying in wait inside my home and then beyond that the fact that she was raped six months before by Stacey Gray. She was just getting to a point where she was comfortable going out in public again and all of the sudden this happens. I mean it’s really a horrible story,” Kelly said.
Kelly told the court prior to sentencing that Stacey Gray was convicted in 1994 of felony assault of a police officer in Ohio and sentenced at that time to 10-25 years to serve. The sister of Renee Eldridge also addressed the court reading a victim impact statement. Standing just feet away from Gray, Nicole Hawk told the judge “The loss of Renee has affected our family in ways words cannot describe.”
“This crime didn’t just take one life it shattered our entire family,” Hawk said.
Judge Burch sentenced Gray to life without parole for the felony murder conviction followed by another life sentence to run consecutively for the rape of Renee Eldridge. After the sentencing Renee’s father Rick Eldridge reacted to the Judge’s punishment. “I’m loving it. I think he’ll never see the light of day. I think it’s going to bring peace in our life. We can move on now. He’ll never control us again.”
Stacey Gray did not address the court or the family during the proceeding and his defense attorney Angela Dillon requested life with parole. After the sentencing Dillon said she would file an appeal and a motion for a new trial.
