A courtroom awash with tears ends a seven-year judicial odyssey

Nicole Ostrander talks about how much she misses her sister, Jenna Pellegrini, as Jenna's mom, left, awaits her turn to address the court. (Court TV screenshot)

DOVER - So much heartache. So much grief.
It took 2,667 days to get justice for Jenna and Christine, but when they finally did on Friday, members of both women's families took aim at "the monster" who brutally killed them with such unspeakable violence.
Timothy Verrill, 41, formerly of Belknap Street in Dover, will spend the rest of his life in a New Hampshire State Prison, but that did little to ease the hearts of the two families whose loved one was snatched from them on a cold January night in 2017.
"This is all I have left to talk to," whimpered Amy Bryan, Jenna Pellegrini's mom, as she pointed to an urn on the prosecution's table. "All we have are memories, you were only 32 when you were stolen. Our hearts hurt every day."
"Turning her eyes to Verrill seated across the room, Bryan lashed out at the man who savagely murdered her only daughter.
"I have nightmares about what you did to her, you brutally stabbed her 43 times," she said her voice rising. "Was she aware of what you were doing to her? Did she call out her children's names? How could you do it? I hope you think of this every day for the rest of your life."
And when the coward, the monster who snuffed out their young lives far too soon, got his chance to speak to the court, to apologize to the families to throw himself at the mercy of the court and those he made suffer, he had nothing to say. Nothing.
Strafford Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard called Verrill a "coward" for what he did, because he was afraid Pellegrini was a police informant and he was going to lose his drug business.
At one point during sentencing Judge Howard remarked he'd never seen this level of "brutality" in his 38 years on the bench.
During sentencing Judge Howard recounted the viciousness of Verrill's attacks on the women.
"In Jenna Pellegrini's death, the multiple stabs to the neck and chest, the severing of the jugular vein and her carotid artery," he noted. "Of the 43 stabs in total to the back, 14 punctured her lungs. In many of the stabs the force was so great that you fractured her ribs. She was probably asleep when you started, but there's no doubt in my mind that she became conscious and knew what was happening.
"Christine Sullivan suffered a blow to the head that was so severe that it caused a fracture to the occipital bone, one of the most difficult bones in the human body to break it is so thick," he added.
Howard said it was likely Verrill's cowardice, drug use and paranoia that produced such unimaginable violence.
Immediately following Friday's sentencing New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella released a statement that read in part, "Today's sentencing marks a significant moment of justice for the families of Jenna Pellegrini and Christine Sullivan. The court's decision to impose a life sentence reflects the heinous nature of the crimes committed and sends a strong message that such terrible acts have no place in our society. We hope this ... brings some measure of solace to the loved ones of the victims."

Formella in his statement also thanked State Police for their work in the case, but it was the Major Crimes Unit's flawed record keeping and evidence tracking that led to a mistrial in 2019. The court found that there were numerous Brady violations for not turning over exculpatory evidence to the defense. That led to five more years of frustration for the families of the victims.