COVINGTON, Ky. — A Northern Kentucky man convicted of killing the mother of his children has been sentenced to life in prison.
Mario Payne appeared in Kenton County court Monday after a jury found him guilty in December in the killing of 25-year-old Kierra Lane.
Court records show Payne shot Lane four times at point-blank range in January 2024 following a custody exchange at a Kroger in Latonia. After the exchange, Payne followed Lane to her apartment on West 34th Street in Covington so she could gather clothes and other items for the children.
When Lane closed the apartment door, Payne opened fire. Prosecutors said he then left the children at the scene and fled.
“He killed my daughter and put my granddaughter by my daughter’s dead body,” said Lane’s father, John Lane. “I was hoping he would get the electric chair.”
Payne was captured several days later by Louisville police. Prosecutors said jealousy over a new relationship Lane was in motivated the shooting.
John Lane said the life sentence brings justice, but not closure.
“My family got justice that we deserve,” he said. “Him getting life is justice, but it’s not bringing back my daughter.”
Payne will be eligible for parole after 20 years.
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