Stephanie Sipe




Summary of Offense:

Born on November 17, 1978 and sentenced to death in Rockingham County on July 18, 2006.

Ivan Teleguz was sentenced to death in Rockingham County for the July 21, 2001 capital murder-for-hire slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Yvonne Sipe, the mother of his 23-month-old son, who was stabbed to death in her Harrisonburg apartment.

Teleguz, who had moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was angry he had been ordered to pay support for the child.

He hired Edwin Lee Gilkes Jr. and Michael Anthony Hetrick to kill Sipe for $2,000. On July 21, 2001, Teleguz drove the two men from Pennsylvania to Harrisonburg and he told Hetrick he wanted Sipe’s throat cut.

Teleguz waited in the car at a Wal-Mart while the two men bought a fillet knife that he approved of as a murder weapon. Teleguz then drove them to Sipe’s apartment, pointed it out and dropped them off nearby.

He told them to wait until he had had enough time to drive back to Pennsylvania. They waited several hours and then returned to the apartment complex. Hetrick entered the apartment alone after telling Sipe he needed to use the telephone.

Once inside he attacked her and cut her throat but also cut his own hand, leaving his blood at the scene. He went into the bathroom to wash it and discovered the boy in the bathtub with the water running. He turned off the water and left.

Sipe suffered defensive wounds and three other knife injuries. One wound went from the left side of her neck to the right side, and the fatal wound was two and a half inches deep into her trachea, larynx and a major artery.

The body was discovered on July 23, 2001, by Sipe’s mother, Pamela Y. Woods, who was concerned she had been unable to contact her daughter for two days. Woods began screaming for help. A neighbor covered Sipe’s body with a blanket and then found the boy, unharmed, in the tub full of water.

A tipster led police to Gilkes, who in turn led police to Hetrick, who eventually confessed. Testing confirmed Hetrick’s blood in the apartment.