Keymarroo Guiden, 53, was sentenced Friday for the 2014 murder of April Parker, a 31-year-old Monticello mother of four whose skeletal remains weren't found until weeks after she vanished. Sullivan County Supreme Court Judge Stephan Schick handed down the sentence following a jury's second-degree murder conviction in June, closing out a case that stretched across more than a decade and hinged on a chilling detail: prosecutors say Guiden kept Parker's phone number and Facebook account active to make it look like she was still alive.
A Sentence More Than a Decade in the Making
Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty announced the sentence, which came after Guiden was sentenced for the 2014 murder of April Parker, according to Daily Voice. Guiden, who had been living in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was convicted after a 12-day jury trial that concluded on June 23, 2026, when jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder. Court records reviewed by the Times Union indicate he had faced a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison heading into sentencing.
Parker, a mother of four from Monticello, was reported missing to the Monticello Police Department in May 2014. New York State Police later took over the investigation, which grew into an exhaustive cold-case effort: investigators interviewed more than 130 people and reviewed thousands of pages of records before an arrest was ever made, the outlet's report notes.
Skeletal Remains Found Weeks After Parker Disappeared
On June 10, 2014, investigators discovered skeletal remains in the woods behind the Sleepy Hollow apartment complex in Monticello. DNA testing later confirmed the remains belonged to Parker. Accounts of exactly how close the discovery site was to where the couple had lived differ: the report from the seed publisher described the remains as found roughly 150 yards from where Parker and Guiden had been living, while the Times Union reported the distance at about 150 feet from their Monticello apartment. Prosecutors said Parker's head, hands, and feet had been removed and disposed of.
Trial evidence showed that Guiden had already killed Parker before May 9, 2014. On that date, prosecutors said, Guiden drove two of Parker's children to New York City under the pretense of visiting their father — even though, prosecutors said, the children's father did not know about the planned visit.
Digital Deception Meant to Delay Suspicion
According to prosecutors, Guiden contacted Verizon Wireless to transfer Parker's cellphone number to a Motorola Droid Razr in his possession, then used that number along with access to her Facebook account to impersonate her and make her appear alive. He posted photographs of Parker on her own account and communicated with her friends as though he were her, prosecutors said, while claiming to others that Parker had simply disappeared. Prosecutors said the deception was intended to delay suspicion and distance Guiden from the killing.
The case did not move in a straight line to conviction. Per the Times Union, Guiden's first trial ended in a mistrial due to improper comments from a juror, and the state Supreme Court's Third Department ruled that a retrial was not barred by double jeopardy, clearing the way for the case that ended in June's guilty verdict. A New York Court of Appeals decision list from May 21, 2026 shows a motion for leave to appeal in the matter was denied and a related motion for a stay was dismissed as academic.
Arrest Came Seven Years After Parker's Disappearance
Guiden was arrested in December 2021 following a grand jury indictment and was extradited from Pennsylvania to Sullivan County, the outlet's report states. District Attorney Conaty described the killing as one of Sullivan County's most disturbing recent crimes, according to the same account. The 12-year gap between Parker's disappearance and Friday's sentencing reflects the scope of the investigation, which drew on interviews with more than 130 people and a review of thousands of pages of records before investigators built the case that ultimately led a jury to convict Guiden of second-degree murder.
