Jakiy Keith appears during his sentencing hearing in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Keith pleaded guilty in the 2024 shooting death of Kayla Wright. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger A former Connecticut man has been sentenced to 30 years to life in pri son on a murder charge for fatally shooting a Derby woman inside a Northeast Kingdom home where he helped run an illegal drug operation. Judge Rory Thibault handed down the sentence to 26-year-old Jakiy Tramaine Corey Keith on Wednesday in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport after a hearing that stretched over two days.  Keith had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shooting and killing 29-year-old Kayla Wright of Derby inside a home in Troy. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of unauthorized removal of a body as part of a plea deal with state prosecutors.  Thibault spoke for a little more than 45 minutes about the circumstances surrounding the case before imposing the sentence, calling the killing a crime of domestic violence. “What is particularly aggravating is that the Troy drug house was effectively back open for business as soon as the remains of Ms. Wright were disposed and the kitchen cleaned up,” Thibault said.  “The defendant continued to use the residence as a base of operation to continue his drug activity uninterrupted and unabated,” the judge added.  Police said Keith shot Wright several times early in the morning on Feb. 2, 2024.  According to court records, Keith and Wright were arguing in the moments leading up to the shooting, and Keith feared that Wright was going to tell authorities about the drug operation. Wright and several other people traveled to and stayed at the home over time for illegal drug activities, with dozens of people coming and going daily, according to court records and testimony during the sentencing hearing. Several people have also been arrested on other charges as part of the investigation. Captain Karl Gardner of the Vermont State Police testifies during a sentencing hearing for Jakiy Keith in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Keith pleaded guilty in the 2024 shooting death of Kayla Wright. A police interview of Keith is seen behind Gardner. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Vermont State Police Capt. Karl Gardner testified Wednesday that authorities were conducting an investigation into illegal drug activities at the Troy residence in the weeks leading up to Wright’s fatal shooting.  Gardner also testified that police had obtained an “active” search warrant for the residence as part of that investigation but had not yet carried out the search before Wright’s death. Wright’s body was found days after the shooting inside a large toolbox container in the Missisquoi River in Troy, court records stated.  Keith had initially been charged with first-degree murder, a charge that was reduced as part of the plea agreement. That agreement allowed Keith’s attorney, David Sleigh, and Orleans County State’s Attorney Farzana Leyva to argue for any sentence allowed by law.  A charge of second-degree murder carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.  Leyva asked the judge Wednesday to sentence Keith to 50 years to life in prison. The prosecutor said Keith had exploited people, including Wright, who were addicted to illegal drugs for his own benefit.  “Kayla was trying to break the very dependency that gave the defendant power over her,” Leyva said.  “After the killing, there was time to summon help, contact law enforcement, and tell Kayla’s family the truth,” Leyva wrote in a sentencing document filed ahead of the hearing. “Instead, Kayla’s body was placed inside a toolbox while her blood was cleaned from the residence and evidence was destroyed.” Sleigh, Keith’s attorney, had asked the judge to impose a sentence of 20 years to life.  He told the judge there was no guarantee that Keith would be released on parole after serving his minimum prison term. Sleigh said Keith would need to earn his parole through his actions while incarcerated. Sleigh, in his sentencing document, wrote that his client suffered from a troubled and volatile upbringing in Hartford, Connecticut, and became involved with the drug trade fueled by the allure of the money he was making from it. “Jakiy now sees his younger self as a different person,” the defense attorney added. “Jakiy has reoccurring dreams in which he is talking to his younger self with the wisdom he has now. In those dreams, Jakiy tells himself to find another path.” Three of Wright’s family members also provided victim impact statements before Thibault imposed the sentence.  They called Wright a kind, honest and compassionate person with a love for animals. They added that although she was small in stature she had a big personality, telling the judge that she was “everyone’s friend.”  Byron Wright, father of murder victim Kayla Wright, weeps as he listens to testimony during a sentencing hearing for Jakiy Keith in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Keith pleaded guilty in the 2024 shooting death of Kayla Wright. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Samantha Perkins, Wright’s twin sister, had strong words for Keith, repeatedly calling him a “loser.”  “Lock him up and destroy the keys,” Perkins said in asking the judge to impose the harshest sentence possible. Perkins said that at the time of her sister’s death, Wright was working to address her addiction to drugs and had been admitted to a long-term treatment program in California. Wright, said Perkins, had a plane ticket but was killed before that trip was set to take place. “Kayla’s opportunity to get clean was taken,” Perkins added. Keith then addressed the judge. He told Wright’s family members he was sorry and accepted responsibility.  “I know I could have walked away. I should have walked away,” Keith said, adding of Wright, “She is not here because of me. I am truly sorry.” The plea deal in the case allowed a separate sentence in a federal case against Keith to run at the same time as his sentence on the state charges. Keith was sentenced in June to a little more than 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and fentanyl as well as a separate count of carrying and using a firearm in a drug-related crime.  Among the witnesses testifying during the sentencing hearing Wednesday in the murder case was Terron Pendleton, who said he saw the fatal shooting. He said Keith shot Wright three times in the home’s kitchen and that Keith then ordered him to help clean up the scene and put her body in the toolbox. Later that day, Pendleton said, Keith addressed other people in the house about the shooting. “He said he had an ‘Oh, shit’ moment,” Pendleton recalled. Read the story on VTDigger here: ‘Everyone’s friend’: Family describes slain Derby woman as her killer gets 30 years in prison. ...read more read less