Lexington man gets 40 years in prison for murder, sodomy case
Fayette County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Todd Willard choked back tears as he spoke about the things 3-year-old LillyAnn Grace Reck would never get to do after she was killed by 37-year-old Andrew Buster.
She will never get experience her first day of school, learning to drive, having a job, or starting a family, Willard said at Buster’s sentencing Thursday. Buster pleaded guilty to the sodomy and murder of Reck.
“We have talked in this case about the defendant’s life experiences ... all things that LillyAnn will never get to do,” Williard said.
Buster was sentenced Thursday afternoon to 40 years in prison in connection to a December 2018 incident that left Reck dead. He pleaded guilty in July. Buster was also sentenced for unrelated charges stemming from a sexual assault of a second victim.
He faced four separate sodomy charges of a victim under 12, according to court documents. Buster agreed to plead guilty to amended charges — two charges were reduced to criminal abuse and two were dismissed.
Thursday morning, Reck’s father and stepmother appeared in court wearing shirts with LillyAnn’s picture, along with the words “Missed beyond words, missed beyond measure.”
LillyAnn Reck loved to play, learn and watch morning cartoons, according to Willard. After her death, she had a “profound impact,” becoming an organ donor.
Shannon Reck, who met LillyAnn on her death bed, said the impact of her death affects her father, Josh Reck, everyday.
“Forty years is not enough, and I don’t know that anything will ever be enough,” Shannon Reck said. “There is only one punishment that I could see as a solution, and even that wouldn’t be enough.”
Josh Reck also spoke, making veiled threats towards Buster in open court, who sat silently shaking his head and looking down at the table.
“I will go to hell with you because the good book says if I can’t forgive you, I am going to hell,” Josh Reck said. “I will catch up with you there, but I am fine with that too.”
Rebecca Collins, the mother of the second victim and sister of Buster, spoke about her brother and sobbed on the stand as she recounted memories of him and her daughter’s abuse.
Collins said she hated Buster since she was little, and would continue to. She threatened to kill him on the stand if he ever got out.
“I am just happy I have my beautiful daughter still with me today, but everything has been taken away from the Reck family,” Collins said. “I am deeply sorry for their loss.”
Buster’s attorney, Josh Miller, did not comment on behalf of his client in court and did not wish to comment when asked by the Herald-Leader. In a sentencing memorandum submitted by mitigation specialist Joshua Powell with the Department of Public Advocacy, he wrote that trauma, abuse, intellectual disabilities and substance use plagued Buster’s life since his youth.
“(Buster’s) world was indelibly shaped by mental illness, low functioning, and trauma,” Powell wrote. “His choices brought him to this point, but his choices were influenced by forces outside of his control. He did not choose mental illness or the developmental disorders that plague his mind.
“...He has taken responsibility for his actions and longs to make something positive out of the life he was given.”
Buster was charged and arrested in January 2020, according to court records. He’s been held at the Fayette County Detention Center ever since. Buster could have faced the death penalty if convicted, but Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter ruled previously that he had developmental and intellectual disabilities and was not eligible for capital punishment. Her ruling came before Buster pleaded guilty.
