GUILTY AS CHARGED: GREGORY GROOM PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDERING PREGNANT TEEN KYLEE MONTEIRO, SENTENCED TO LIFE

FALL RIVER, Mass. — More than a year after the horrific disappearance and death of 18-year-old Kylee Monteiro, her killer, 23-year-old Gregory Groom, officially admitted to his crimes in Fall River Superior Court, pleading guilty to second-degree murder and witness intimidation.

Groom was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years. The plea deal resolves a devastating case that deeply shook the South Coast region since August 2025, sparing the victim’s family from enduring a lengthier trial.

Monteiro, who was 11 weeks pregnant and had recently earned her high school diploma and a welding certificate, was reported missing by Groom himself on August 8, 2025. Groom initially lied to police, claiming she had left his family’s County Street property in Rehoboth following an argument. However, prosecutors revealed that Monteiro had sent a prophetic final text message to her sister just before her phone died: “He threw me on the ground and pulled my hair and strangled me… if I die, it was Greg.”

Following nearly two weeks of investigation and a massive search effort, Groom cracked under questioning when law enforcement pressed to search the property. He drew a rudimentary map directing detectives to a shed on the 26-acre parcel. Past a pile of brush and beneath felled trees, search teams discovered Monteiro’s body buried in a five-foot-deep grave. Groom admitted to stabbing her with a kitchen knife until the blade snapped off in her chest and spending the overnight hours digging the pit to hide her remains.

By entering a guilty plea to second-degree murder, Groom avoided a first-degree murder charge that carried a mandatory sentence of life without parole, while the Monteiro family averted lighter manslaughter sentence proposals. Groom begins serving his sentence immediately, bringing a formal legal conclusion to a tragedy that took two lives.