Motor Shop Employee Sentenced To 15 Years+ For Coworker Murder

SAN JOSE, CA — A man convicted of murdering his 28-year-old coworker at a motor shop in January 2016 listened to tearful statements from the victim's family before being sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Friday morning.

After a 12-day jury trial in April, 42-year-old Steve Hlebo was found guilty in the gruesome murder of Kyle Myrick on Jan. 22, 2016.

The two men were working at GP Sports at 2020 Camden Ave. that evening when Myrick went missing. Employees called police after finding blood in the storage room, and Hlebo was arrested after officers found Myrick's severed ear in the same location.

A six-day search for Myrick's body culminated with law enforcement finding him dead on an embankment near Jamison Creek Road near Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County. Kelly Sparry, Myrick's mother, was among seven family members who spoke to Judge Sharon Chatman in the courtroom. Hlebo sat facing nearly 30 of the victim's family members, and sunk his head down and sighed during the most emotional portions of her statement.

"I will miss Kyle for the rest of my life," she said. "There's no healing from this, but I'll keep fighting for Kyle as long as I'm on this planet."

She gave Chatman a photo of her and Myrick at Christmas, and shared stories of the victim's German shepherd, Bella, waiting at the window for him to come home after he was murdered. Myrick was loyal, sensitive, and caring, Kelly said, and her only child.

John Sparry, Myrick's stepfather from when he was 11 years old, echoed many other family members in saying Hlebo showed no remorse after the murder.

"The world would be better off if Steve Hlebo had never been born," he said directly to Hlebo, describing the egregious nature of Myrick's many injuries after being beaten, likely with a metal bracket.

Myrick's brother, sister-in-law, aunt, step-grandmother and uncle described the "torturous" experience of searching for his body for six days after his death, and his crushing absence at holidays, birthdays and graduations in the future. Many looked directly at Hlebo, who returned their gaze with a stricken expression and red eyes.

Les Myrick, Kyle's uncle, displayed his anger most plainly.

"You're a heartless piece of sh*t," he said, responding to Hlebo's trial defense that the murder happened because Kyle Myrick caught him on a bad day. "You're going to a place where you belong, everybody there has had a bad day - enjoy it."

Hlebo then rose to address the gathered family and friends, some of whom had traveled across the country for the trial and sentencing.

"Kyle's passing rests on my shoulders and heavy on my heart," he said. "I'm solely responsible. I'm so, so sorry."

He apologized several times, and once more before he was escorted out the courtroom, to which Les Myrick responded, "Have fun, b*tch." Chatman handed down the maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison with no probation. She held the photo given to her by Kelly
Sparry and said the court couldn't heal the family's pain, but she hoped the sentence would bring his killer to justice.

Defense attorney Annrae Angel and prosecutor Summerle Davis both supported the sentencing. Davis said further that a sentence could never make up for the family's suffering, and what they had lost.

The case will return to Santa Clara County court for a restitution hearing on Aug. 9.

—Bay City News