GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Friday is sentencing day in Brown County Court for a convicted murderer.
While George Burch is facing a life in prison term for the 2016 death of 31-year-old Nicole Vanderheyden, there’s the chance he might be eligible for parole one day.
Among the family and friends expected in the courtroom is Rachel Hillery.
The foreman of the jury that convicted 40-year-old George Burch.
“If he’ll finally, after his sentencing finally speak and tell everyone what happened.”
But she’s not optimistic that’s how it will play out.
And while the trial ended months ago, Hillery thinks about it all the time and the violent end of Nicole Vanderheyden’s life.
“I drive past where Nicole’s body was found every day, so you’re always going to think of her and the family.”
And, speaking of Nicole’s family, Hillery has a wish for them.
“With everything that is going on with the family, I feel that a sentence of life without parole would be an amazing result for them.”
The case has drawn media attention from NE Wisconsin, Milwaukee and even nationally.
Hillery has been interviewed by network shows like CBS’s ’48 Hours’ and NBC’s ‘Dateline’. And she understands the appeal.
“The thing that intrigued them was that this man from Virginia is here, visiting in Green Bay, and does this.”
Vanderheyden left 3 children and a strong network of family and friends.
19 letters have been sent to Judge John Zakowski asking that he sentence George Burch to life in prison, with no possibility for parole.
