Sarah Kolb, Harli Quinn, and the Murder of Adrianne Reynolds

The Harli Quinn and Adrianne Reynolds murder case refers to the January 2005 killing of 16-year-old Adrianne Reynolds in the Quad Cities area of Illinois by two teenage classmates, Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory. Gregory, now 17 at the time of the crime, has since come out as a transgender woman and uses the name Harli Quinn. Both remain in Illinois prisons more than two decades later, and Gregory’s sentence is currently being reconsidered a second time under state juvenile sentencing law.

What Happened to Adrianne Reynolds

Adrianne Reynolds was a 16-year-old student in the Optional Education GED program at the Black Hawk College Outreach Center in East Moline, Illinois. She was relatively new to the area, and the attention she got from boys in the program reportedly made Kolb jealous. Kolb told classmates she “wanted to kill her rival” and wrote in a class journal about her intent to harm Reynolds just hours before the killing.¹²

On January 21, 2005, Reynolds, Kolb, Gregory, and an acquaintance named Sean McKittrick were together in Kolb’s car in a Taco Bell parking lot in Moline. A fight broke out inside the vehicle between Kolb and Reynolds. McKittrick told Kolb to stop; Kolb told him to get out if he didn’t like it, and he walked away.³⁴¹

Afterward, the pair tried to burn Reynolds’ body and enlisted another classmate to help dismember and dispose of it. Parts of the remains were left in a garbage bag at the Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island, and the body was also disposed of on the farm of Kolb’s grandfather in Aledo. The appellate court later noted that Kolb directed the dismemberment and was “very nonchalant” about the murder when discussing it with peers.⁵

Sarah Kolb’s Conviction and 53-Year Sentence

Kolb was charged in Rock Island County with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death. Her first trial, in the fall of 2005, ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked 11-to-1 in favor of conviction.²

A retrial was moved to Dixon, Illinois, about 60 miles from the Quad Cities, on a change of venue. It began on February 6, 2006. State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez introduced the journal entry in which Kolb had written about her plan to kill Reynolds. Unlike the first trial, where Kolb had testified and blamed Gregory, she did not take the stand at the retrial. Her defense attorney, David Hoffman, argued Gregory was responsible but rested without presenting evidence.² On February 22, 2006, the jury convicted her on both counts.

The court imposed 48 years for first-degree murder with three years of mandatory supervised release, plus a consecutive 5 years for concealment, for a total of 53 years.⁵ At sentencing, Adrianne’s stepmother Joann Reynolds told the court Kolb “showed no remorse” and was “a cold-blooded killer” who was “not sorry that she killed Adrianne” but rather “sorry she got caught.”⁶

Cory Gregory’s Guilty Plea and 45-Year Sentence

Gregory pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and concealment of a corpse.⁷ In 2006, a Rock Island County judge handed down 40 years for the murder and 5 years for concealment, for a combined 45 years.⁸

Why the Sentences Are Being Revisited

Both sentences fell under scrutiny because of changes in how courts treat long prison terms for juvenile offenders. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama (2012) that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment because they fail to account for the “mitigating qualities of youth.”⁹ In 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court extended that reasoning in People v. Buffer, drawing a bright line: any prison sentence longer than 40 years imposed on a juvenile is a “de facto life sentence,” and courts must consider youth and its attendant circumstances before imposing one.¹⁰ Both Kolb’s 53-year term and Gregory’s 45-year term crossed that threshold.

Harli Quinn’s Resentencing

Because Gregory’s sentence exceeded 40 years, a Rock Island County judge ruled in 2019 that she was entitled to a new sentencing hearing.⁷ That hearing took place on March 9, 2022, before Judge Peter Church, who reimposed the original 45 years. The judge said the court was “duty bound” to uphold the term, and prosecutors argued it fit the brutality of the crime and the lasting harm to the victim’s family.⁸

The Illinois Appellate Court threw that out in December 2024. It found Judge Church had “simply reimposed the defendant’s original sentence without exercising its discretion,” without weighing evidence in aggravation or mitigation or the updated presentence investigation report. The court held the sentence “cannot stand” and ordered a second resentencing.¹¹ A status hearing was held on June 24, 2026, and a new sentencing hearing is being scheduled. Gregory is currently housed at the Lawrence Correctional Center.⁷

Gregory came out as a transgender woman while incarcerated and uses the name Harli Quinn. Court filings and news coverage use both names. The author biography in a self-published paperback titled Cigarette Daydreams, released on Amazon in January 2022, describes her as “a transwoman who’s spent half of her adult life in prison” and notes she “resides somewhere in the Illinois Department of Corrections, under her legal name, Cory Gregory.”¹²

Sarah Kolb’s Failed Appeal

Kolb’s direct appeal was denied in 2008. In 2018 she filed a pro se postconviction petition arguing her 53-year sentence violated the Eighth Amendment under Miller and the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution. The circuit court dismissed the petition at the second stage, and on March 1, 2023, the Illinois Third District Appellate Court affirmed, ruling she had failed to prove her sentence was unconstitutional.⁵¹³ She remains imprisoned and has reportedly been seeking clemency.⁸¹⁴¹⁵

The Reynolds Family Today

Tony and Joann Reynolds have returned to court repeatedly over the past two decades. Tony estimates they have been back “at least a dozen times, possibly more” for various appeals and hearings. Reacting to the latest resentencing order, Joann Reynolds disputed the premise that the original judge ignored Gregory’s age: “The judge did take his age into consideration. He didn’t get the death penalty because of his age. He didn’t get life in prison because of his age. But Cory Gregory did not take Adrianne’s age into consideration.”¹⁵

The family also established the Adrianne Reynolds Memorial Scholarship through the Black Hawk College Quad-Cities Foundation, which covers GED testing fees for students in the Optional Education program where Adrianne was enrolled. Since her death, the family has raised more than $23,700, funding over 750 test vouchers for students in Aledo, East Moline, and Rock Island.¹⁶

1
ABC News. Adrianne Reynolds Murder Story
2
CBS News. Girl Who Dismembered Friend Convicted
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NBC News. Adrianne Reynolds Case Details
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KWQC. Cory Gregory Gets Same Sentence in 2005 Killing of Adrienne Reynolds
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Illinois Appellate Court. People v. Kolb, 2023 IL App (3d) 200526-U
6
Murderpedia. Sarah Kolb
7
Quad-City Times. Resentencing of Harli Quinn
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KWQC. Cory Gregory Gets Same Sentence in 2005 Killing of Adrienne Reynolds
9
Justia. Miller v. Alabama
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Illinois Supreme Court. People v. Buffer, 2019 IL 122327
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KWQC. 2nd Resentencing Ordered for Person Convicted in 2005 Death of Adrianne Reynolds
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Our Quad Cities. Convicted Killer of Adrienne Reynolds Writes Book
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KWQC. Sarah Kolb Appeals Sentence in Murder of Adrianne Reynolds
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Yahoo News. Resentencing Set for Perpetrator Convicted in 2005 Death of Adrianne Reynolds
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Yahoo News. Parents React to Resentencing of Adrianne Reynolds’ Killer
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Black Hawk College. Reynolds Family Donates $2,773 To Help GED Students