California: Santa Cruz County Sentinel, Saturday, March 8, 2003
Killer of former Brookdale woman sentenced
By CATHY REDFERN
Sentinel STAFF WRITER
Jacob Lee Travis, 33, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Friday after admitting to the murder of former Brookdale resident Andrea “Annie” Born.
Born, 20, raised in the San Lorenzo Valley, was attending Fresno State at the time she was killed by Travis, a former boyfriend.
California Highway Patrol officers found Born’s body burning in an olive orchard off Highway 99 in July 1997. She also had been shot.
Born’s mother, Gloria Barnes of Brookdale, and several friends attended the sentencing in Madera County.
Barnes said she is relieved Travis admitted to the murder in a plea bargain, though he has never apologized.
The Fresno man wrote in a letter to the court that he killed Born so no one else could “have her,” she said.
Also on Friday, Born’s friends and family visited the orchard where Born’s body was found, to pray and place flowers there. They vowed to attend her killer’s parole hearing, which would come in 2015 at the earliest.
“Now we just have to remember Annie for how she was, and hope this guy never gets out,” Barnes said.
The judge told those in the courtroom that he got more letters about this case than any in his career, but said he had no discretion in the sentencing, Barnes said.
“I have a life sentence of going to parole hearings. but at least (Travis) didn’t put us through a trial.” Barnes said.
Travis was arrested in a Seattle suburb in 2001, four years after the murder, and that was only after Barnes got the state Department of Justice involved.
State investigators took a second look at a stolen car used in the crime and found Travis’ fingerprints.
Born was studying special education. She had recently broken up with Travis after dating him for about a year.
Contact Cathy Redfern at credfern@santa-cruz.com.