Escaping Kentucky: The Lillelid Murder
- Gina Westfall
- Jul 31
- 5 min read
On April 6th, 1997, a group of teenagers from Pikeville, Kentucky were on their way to New Orleans. The group stopped at a rest stop where they came across a young family of four. The chance meeting between a group of misfit teenagers and a family of devout Jehovah Witnesses would end in murder.
Natasha Cornett was born Natasha Wallen on January 26th, 1979, in rural Kentucky to Madonna Wallen and Roger Burgess. Roger is a local police officer with whom Madonna was having an affair. He was not involved consistently in Natasha’s life and did not provide her adequate support growing up. Natasha’s childhood was chaotic with an irresponsible mother. At one point, she found her mother overdosed.
Nathasha developed behavioral problems early on as well as demonstrating symptoms of psychiatric problems. For example, she was restricting calories and demonstrating symptoms of anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders as an early adolescent. She was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but no follow up was completed due to the family’s inability to keep health insurance.
Natasha’s behavior problems continued and she began to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. When she turned seventeen, she married her long-time friend Stephen Cornett. However, he left her after six months. The loss devastated Natasha. Following the failure of her marriage, she sunk deeper into a goth culture. More troubling, she was self-mutilating. Natasha was not okay.
Natasha surrounded herself with a group of friends, but it’s much more difficult to find information about the other defendants in this case. Karen Renae Howell was born on September 25th, 1979. Karen had an IQ of 78. She also abused drugs and alcohol. Crystal Sturgill, born on March 13th, 1979, also abused drugs and alcohol. Crystal scored remarkably well on her ACTs, applying to several colleges with a promising future. However, she had been suspended from school several times for behavioral issues. She reported sexual abuse from her stepfather, after which she started having to move from one family member to another.
Edward Dean Mullins, born January 26th, 1978, was a grocery store employee with a GED. He allegedly fell in love with Natasha Cornett and wanted to marry her. Joseph Risner, born October 13th, 1976, was the eldest of the group at age twenty. He was the boyfriend of Karen Howell. He had previously been in the Army but had been discharged due to Marijuana. Jason Bryant, born July 18th, 1982, was the youngest of the group at just fourteen years old. He had an IQ of just 85 and a history of drug and alcohol abuse starting in young childhood.
The group was rumored to drink each other’s blood and worship the devil. They were far too much for the conservative community in which they lived. They wanted to leave Kentucky. The group left rural Kentucky, headed for New Orleans, on April 6th, 1997. They brought two guns along, one stolen from Karen’s Dad and one from a friend of Mullins. The vehicle they were traveling in was a Chevy Citation stolen from Risner’s mother, they knew it wasn’t big enough to get them all the way to New Orleans comfortably.
It was in Tennessee, along Interstate 81, the group stopped at a rest stop. They saw a van and a small family. A group of gothic teenagers and a young family of Jehovah Witnesses with their toddler children met at the rest stop and began to speak about religion. Vidar Lillelid thought he was doing the right thing, but instead, his entire family was soon forced into their van at gunpoint by Joseph Risner.
The family was forced into the van and Jason held them at gunpoint, forcing Vidar to drive to a secluded location as other members of the group helped hold the other family members hostage. Once in the secluded location, the family was forced out into the secluded location. No one is quite sure who did what from there.
Vidar Lillelid, born on May 10th, 1962, was married to Delfina Zelaya Lillelid. Delfina was born in New Jersey on March 26th, 1969. The couple welcomed daughter Tabatha on October 30th, 1990. A few years later, they also welcome son Peter. They had the seemingly perfect family of four. Until the family came across this pack of misfits from Kentucky hell bent on carjacking a van.
Vidar Lillelid had been shot six times, once in the eye and five times in the chest. Delphina was shot eight times. Both were shot in a pattern that was described similar to a “pentagram” on their body. Six-year-old Tabatha was shot once in the head and died at the hospital after being declared brain dead and donating her vital organs. Two-year-old Peter had been shot twice, including in the face and his back, but miraculously survived his injuries.
Tracking the Chevy Citation stolen from Risner’s mother led authorities straight to the group of youth who were apprehended in Arizona. They had several items belonging to the Lillelids in their possession at that time. Natasha Cornett’s first attorney allegedly coached her to tell the media she was “the daughter of Satan”, however some say this was just Natasha. She had long spelled her name backwards A-H- S-A-T-A-N.
The six defendants all soon admitted their guilt, and it wasn’t long before all six agreed to a collective plea bargain agreement and all six agreed to plead guilty in order to have the death penalty taken off the table for the adult co-defendants. All six were convicted of felony murder as participants in felony kidnapping. They were each sentenced to three life sentences plus 25 years for the attack on Peter. All appeals have been denied. Jason Bryant allegedly admitted to being the shooter.
Peter Lillelid recovered from his injuries and became the subject of a nasty custody battle between maternal grandmother and paternal aunt in Sweden. He was eventually raised in Sweden but retained American citizenship. It is believed that as an adult, Peter lives in the United States with his wife.
Natasha Cornett found similar company in prison. She found Christa Pike, soon to be the first woman scheduled to be executed in Tennessee since 1819. Christa is scheduled to die September 30th, 2026.
On August 24th, 2001, she and Natasha decided to try to kill a fellow inmate together. They attacked a fellow inmate, nearly strangling her to death. While Christa did the heavy lifting, Natasha was instrumental in the plan.
There are some documentaries portraying Natasha Cornett as a victim. She portrays herself as trying to step in between her friend (the shooter) and the children (the Lillelids). I don’t think for a second Natasha Cornett tried to do the right thing. I don’t think she has a remorseful bone in her body. She may not have wanted to get her hands dirty, but that doesn’t mean she has a conscience.
References
Deadly Women Season 6 Episode 9: The Dark Side of Youth
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