Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Michelle L. Ihlenfeld, 28, of Francisca Avenue, was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and an additional six months in the Mahoning County jail after pleading guilty earlier to her role in the Shannon Graves murder and dismemberment case.

Ihlenfeld also was sentenced for drug trafficking.

She has been in the county lockup for more than 500 days for her connection to the Graves case.

Ihlenfeld was convicted in January in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of intimidation and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about what she knew about the Graves case, and for sending a threatening message to a witness. She had nothing to do with the murder and dismemberment of Graves, prosecutors said.

She was among the co-defendants of Arturo Novoa, 33, who was sentenced to 48 years to life in prison last year for killing and dismembering Graves, 29, in 2017.

Novoa pleaded guilty to murder for killing Graves in her Mahoning Avenue apartment, as well as six counts of abuse of a corpse, 24 counts of tampering with evidence, three counts of possession of criminal tools, three counts of illegal use of food stamps, grand theft of a motor vehicle, four counts of trafficking in drugs and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Graves had been missing for several weeks when her remains were found in a freezer in the home of a friend of Novoa’s in Campbell. The friends called police when they found the remains.

Co-defendant Katrina Layton, 37, was sentenced in January to 18 years in prison for covering up the murder and helping Novoa dispose of the body.

Ihlenfeld’s husband, Andrew A. Herrmann, 28, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in the Graves case Thursday before Judge Anthony Donofrio. Herrmann is accused of helping Novoa mutilate and hide Graves’ body, as well as burning her belongings.

In January, Ihlenfeld filed for divorce from Herrmann.

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