BOND COUNTY — A 41-year-old former youth director of a Mt. Vernon church has been sentenced to 25-years in prison after she pleaded guilty Friday in Bond County Court to murdering her 70-year-old boyfriend last year and then telling authorities he had committed suicide.

Wendy Denzler pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shooting Richard R. Blake on June 11, 2019, and a charge of obstruction of justice that was amended Friday morning to concealment of a homicidal death.

She was sentenced to 20-years for the second-degree murder charge and a consecutive 5-year term for the concealment charge.

In exchange for her guilty plea, five counts of first-degree murder were dismissed.

Denzler, who had apparently moved to Sorento shortly before Blake’s death, had been the youth director at West Salem Trinity United Methodist in Mt. Vernon.

According to the Bond County Sheriff’s Office, they received a late morning report on Tuesday, June 11, of a suicide involving a firearm. Following a three-day investigation into the reported suicide, Denzler was taken into custody

Prosecutors say Denzler shot Blake in the head with a handgun and then lied to investigating deputies when she told them Blake had committed suicide.