Christopher R. Sokolic Jr., 29, of Barnhart has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for stabbing and killing Zackary C. Tripp in 2020.
Tripp of Barnhart was 40 at the time of his death.
Jefferson County Div. 1 Circuit Judge Joe Rathert handed down the life sentence on Feb. 8 at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Hillsboro.
After a two-day trial in front of Rathert in December, jurors found Sokolic guilty of first-degree murder.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Sokolic stabbed Tripp 23 times in the head, neck, chest and back with a lock-blade pocketknife, and cut him another nine times with the knife, causing his death.
On May 25, 2020, Sokolic and Tripp were in the front seat of a 2015 Chevrolet Cruze, and Alexandria Ayers of Barnhart was sitting in the back seat. At some point, Sokolic said he needed to retrieve something from the trunk, and Tripp, who was driving, stopped the car behind a barn on the property of Sokolic’s grandfather in the 1500 block of East Marriott Street in Barnhart. Then, Sokolic began stabbing Tripp in front of Ayers, who was able to flee for her safety, according to Ayers’ testimony at the trial
Authorities found Tripp’s body a short time later in a field near East Marriott Street.