Clayton Whittemore, a 22-year-old former Utica College student, was convicted Friday of second-degree murder.Â
Jurors found Whittemore guilty of brutally killing his 18-year-old girlfriend, Alexandra Kogut, in her dorm room in September 2012. Whittemore beat Kogut to death with his fists and a curling iron. She was a student at the State University of New York College at Brockport.Â
“This was one of the most brutal and violent murders I have seen in my career,” says District Attorney Sandra Doorley. “You know, the more I do this, the more personal these cases become for me. I really felt connected to the victim. I needed to be her voice in the courtroom and I needed to fight for Alex. And, I did.”
Whittemore was known to have had a bad temper as well as a history of acting aggressively toward ex-girlfriends. Following the verdict, the victim’s mother, Becky Kogut, tweeted, “Justice for my beautiful baby.”
Whittemore could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison at his July 16 sentencing.