ELYRIA, Ohio — An Elyria man has been sentenced to 20 years-to-life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering his former foster brother, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Wednesday.
Antonio Sprinkle previously pleaded guilty to the 2019 murder of 27-year-old Antwan Dormendo. Sprinkle was sentenced in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Monday.
“Elyria is a safer place with this senseless murderer behind bars,” Yost said in a statement. “Thanks to our partners at the Elyria Police Department, we were able to get a conviction and ensure justice.”
According to a release, Sprinkle told investigators that he stabbed Dormendo because he believed that Dormendo had burglarized his apartment and urinated on his mattress a month prior. Sprinkle said that he began carrying a steak knife with him with the intention of robbing or stabbing Dormendo.
Sprinkle and Dormendo then saw each other on the evening of Aug. 15, 2019, during a get-together with friends. Early the following morning, Sprinkle caught up with Dormendo at a gas station on Lake Avenue and proceeded to approach him and get into his car. Dormendo attempted to drive off but hit a curb before making it out of the parking lot.
Dormendo got out of his car, covered in blood, and ran into the gas station asking for help while identifying his attacker as “my brother” and “Tone.” After the station clerk called 911, Dormendo was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he died as the result of three stab wounds in the chest.
Sprinkle proceeded to flee in Dormendo's vehicle and ended up crashing the vehicle 20 miles northeast in Rocky River, leaving behind the front license plate. Sprinkle then drove the car to a gas station in Cleveland, abandoning it around 1 a.m. before taking an Uber back to Elyria, where he was subsequently arrested at 7 a.m.
The knife that was used in the stabbing had broken apart, with the blade found in Dormendo’s abandoned car. The Elyria police submitted the blade to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Laboratory Division, which confirmed the presence of DNA from Dormendo, while DNA testing by BCI also revealed that Sprinkle had Dormendo’s blood on his hands during the time of his arrest.
An investigation revealed that Sprinkle and Dormendo had lived together in the same foster home as juveniles.
