BURLEY, Idaho — A Burley man who pleaded guilty to murdering four people during a schizophrenic break in July 2025 was sentenced Monday in a Cassia County courtroom to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
In December, Benjamin Naylor pleaded guilty to the killings of Dennis Mix, Angelica Medina and Kelly and Donna Jenks. He told the court he was suffering a schizophrenic break and was off his medication at the time of the killings.
That plea agreement removed the possibility of a death sentence. Instead, it secured four consecutive life sentences without parole, a decision that was made after consulting with the victims' families, according to the Cassia and Minidoka County Prosecutors' offices.
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“Seeking the death penalty means years of litigation, appeals, habeas petitions, and re-traumatization at every stage,” said Cassia County Prosecuting Attorney McCord Larsen. “The alternative, which is a plea to fixed-life sentences with certainty, means no trial, no cross-examination of the families, no risk of acquittal or reversal, and a defined endpoint to the legal chapter of their lives. It does not end the grief. Nothing does. But it ends the legal prolonging of it. In this case, the families made an informed, courageous decision. They chose certainty. I have enormous respect for that.”
The Minidoka County plea agreement also requires Naylor to pay child support for one of the victim's children.
On Monday, Benjamin Naylor stood before Judge Blaine Cannon and the families of his victims — Dennis Mix, Angelica Medina, and Kelly and Donna Jenks — as loved ones delivered emotional victim impact statements before the sentence was handed down.
Family members of all four victims read aloud their statements, describing the lasting pain of their losses.
The sister of Kelly Jenks described her grief in visceral terms.
"It's as if a searing rod is constantly rammed through my chest... stealing the breath I need to live," she said.
The cousin of Dennis Mix spoke about the life that was taken.
"Dennis was very talented... he was a painter, a sculptor... we worked as a carpenter... he made jewelry, he made pottery. Mr. Naylor... you're not only a murderer, you're a thief... you stole lives," he said.
The daughter of Kelly and Donna Jenks addressed the court about the void left by her parents' deaths.
"When my parents were taken away, they took a huge part of me with them. My parent deserved to live out their lives in peace and their absence has left a hole that can never been filled," she said.
Kelly Jenks' sister also spoke directly to Naylor.
"You coldly took Kelly and Donna lives... you canceled their futures," she said.
The husband of Angelica Medina described his wife before delivering a final message to Naylor.
"Angelica was a moms-mom... she lived for family and her children... always making things happen for them... I was just along for the ride. Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent — so, f--- you and rot in hell," he said.
As previously reported, Naylor confessed in December as part of a plea agreement to murdering all four Mini-Cassia residents over 4 days across Rupert and Burley.
At that plea hearing, Naylor said he was off his medication and suffering from a schizophrenic break. A voice in his head told him his victims were part of a major conspiracy to kidnap, traffic, and even kill children. He believed he needed to protect them, but the claims were only founded in his mind.
While mental illness doesn't excuse a crime in Idaho, county prosecuting attorneys, Lance Stevenson and McCord Larsen, wrote in a joint statement that mental health needs to be addressed and funded.
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“The legal resolution of this case does not mean the community’s healing is complete. Four people are gone. Families are forever changed. We as a community have to reckon with how we address mental illness before it reaches the point of tragedy. We have to fund mental health services. We have to reduce the stigma that keeps people from seeking help. We have to support law enforcement who encounter mentally ill individuals and need better tools and training than we currently provide. And we have to support the families on both sides of this who are living with this forever. Justice in this case meant four fixed-life sentences. It meant certainty for victims’ families. It meant accountability under Idaho law, which is unambiguous: mental illness does not excuse murder. But justice also means asking ourselves, as a community, what we could have done differently before we ever got here.”
Before sentencing, Naylor was allowed to address the court.
"Since I've been put on this other medicine I can see clearly that it was just totally fictitious about what was going on in my mind... I'm not going to say I'm sorry because I've already been told how pathetic that word is.... but I am going to say that I am horrified by what I did and I deserve the punishment that I'm getting," Naylor said.
Judge Cannon then delivered the sentence.
"I hereby sentence you to fixed life in prison in the Idaho state penitentiary... without the possibility of parol," Cannon said.
Naylor received two life sentences in Cassia County for the murders of Kelly and Donna Jenks, and two additional life sentences for the murders of Dennis Mix and Angelica Medina in Minidoka County.
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