‘NET KILLER’S SENTENCE UPHELD

Saul Dos Reis, the 25 year old accused killer of 13 year old Christina Long, whom he met over the Internet, knew she was underage when he strangled her during sex. He has pleaded guilty to strangling and sexually assaulting Christina on May 17, 2002, and he faced being sent to prison for 30 years. Dos Reis entered his plea to manslaughter, sexual assault charges. When Christina's aunt told police she was missing, they checked her America Online account and learned Dos Reis had arranged to meet Christina at the Danbury mall that night. Just hours after accidentally killing her, he sent her a chilling e-mail in an effort to set up an alibi. Hi, how are you? Do Reis wrote Christina after dumping her body in the woods of Greenwich, Connecticut, on May 18, 2002. Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. I hope you don't get mad at me. So how was that date with that guy last night?

Dos Reis broke his silence, saying he tried to save his Internet friend after allegedly strangling her during sex in his car. That night I lost my friend, my friend died, an emotional Dos Reis says in a jailhouse interview with CBS's 60 Minutes II. And I tried to save her. He says I tried to give her CPR during their encounter. Authorities say Dos Reis confessed to strangling Christina, who reportedly was fascinated with the idea of being choked during sex, and then dumping her body in Greenwich, where he lives. But he insists, I'm not a killer.

The e-mail bombshell came just before a pale, on the verge of fainting Dos Reis pleaded guilty in Bridgeport federal court to crossing state lines to have sex with the underage Christina, and for doing the same with a 15 year old Prospect girl in 1998.

Dos Reis faced up to 25 years in prison in the federal case, and another maximum of 30 years on state charges of manslaughter and sexual assault to which he earlier conditionally pleaded guilty.

Dos Reis was slapped with a 30 year prison sentence May 6, 2003, after a judge scornfully dismissed his attempt to shift blame from himself to Christina. Judge Patrick Carroll said, Is there no acknowledgment of the horrible things that you did that night? Dos Reis pleaded for mercy in the packed courtroom. The time for mercy was the evening the victim died at your hands, Carroll said before imposing the maximum sentenced allowed by a plea bargain.

Dos Reis hasn't stopped searching for females on the Internet, despite being sentenced to the 30 years in prison for killing Christina. He has set up a Web page seeking female correspondents, listing his current address as the Donald W. Wyatt Correctional Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island. At the site, www.inmate.com/inmates/sauldosreis.htm, he has included a personal ad and a photograph of him in a tuxedo. Above the ad is the heading, The Right One. A woman with a good heart that loves to write and that is not afraid of being herself, he writes, describing his perfect pen pal. I also look for a person that knows what she wants out of life.

Dos Reis was slapped with an additional 25-year prison sentence yesterday by a federal judge who found his sorry pleas too little too late. I feel terrible - I just want to say I'm sorry for the things I've done, Dos Reis insisted to federal Judge Stefan Underhill. But I'm here to pay for my mistakes and take responsibility for my actions. The judge handed Dos Reis a prison term 18 years more than what sentencing guidelines recommend.

A federal appeals court yesterday upheld the 25 year prison sentence after Dos Reis argued that Underhill imposed too harsh a sentence.

(Connecticut)