At killer’s sentencing, sister of slain North Versailles man describes ‘no end to this misery’
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Rebecca Sanner remembers her mom’s eyes darting around the porch at each of her children.
It was the middle of the night two years ago, and she was searching their faces — trying to figure out which one of her seven children was missing.
It was Travis.
He had been shot and killed at his home in North Versailles, and his siblings, including his twin, Rebecca, had gone to break the news to their parents.
On Thursday, Rebecca and her family recounted that moment in court, trying to convey their sense of loss to the judge who was about to sentence her brother’s killer.
“Many nights, I go to bed and pray not to wake up,” Travis’s mother, Debra Sanner, said.
She described her son as sweet and loving, hard-working and kind.
Travis Sanner loved hunting and fishing and spending time outdoors, riding his quad.
“He was the glue that held our family together,” Rebecca said.
Sanner, 38, was killed by Samuel Trusso on March 22, 2022.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos sentenced Trusso, 42, of Irwin to 23 to 46 years in prison for third-degree murder and firing a gun into an occupied structure. A jury found him guilty on March 1.
Police said that Sanner had begun dating Trusso’s estranged wife a few months earlier.
The woman and Trusso had been married for 10 years before separating in 2021. She said he had been physically abusive, pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her.
The night of the shooting, the woman had been with Sanner when Trusso called upset because he’d had a fight with his girlfriend, and she’d stabbed him.
The woman told Trusso to come over.
When Sanner learned that Trusso was coming over, he left, but returned later, police said.
The woman told police that the two men got into a fight, and Sanner left. He then called her to pick up her belongings and said they were through.
She returned to Sanner’s house with Trusso, who, police said, taunted Sanner. As they argued in the doorway, Sanner slammed the door shut. Trusso pulled out a gun and fired.
Trusso fled and shot himself in the head as police approached. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition but recovered.
On Thursday, the defendant spoke briefly.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” Trusso said. “I apologize to the family of Travis Sanner. I apologize to my family and friends.”
His attorney, Lyle Dresbold, asked the court for a sentence of eight to 20 years incarceration, citing his client’s lack of a criminal record and history of suicide attempts. He called Sanner’s death an unintentional killing.
“Sam was clearly not mentally all together that night,” Dresbold said.
But Rangos said that Trusso shot a man who was trying to close his door. His actions, she said, demonstrated an “extreme hardness of heart.”
Rebecca Sanner told the judge that she is no longer whole without her twin.
She described the pain she feels and the constant lump in her throat.
“He was a part of my heart walking outside of my body,” she said. “It’s a feeling of never being alone. Someone always being at your side.”
But now, Rebecca continued, she hates the sound of birds chirping because it reminds her of the first morning she woke up after her brother died.
She has pushed her family and friends away.
She no longer does the things she used to enjoy.
“It feels like there’s just no end to this misery,” Rebecca said. “I am not OK.”
Amanda Raible was Sanner’s younger sister.
“Whenever we were little, I always thought he was the coolest,” she said.
She helped him with his afternoon paper route and shared secrets with him.
Raible said her brother wanted to experience life and was always up for anything.
He loved his family and was proud of it.
When Raible turned 16, Sanner took the day off and helped his mom decorate their house to celebrate.
When she was little, he went outside and shook sleigh bells at Christmas to sound like Santa.
“He was able to find the worth in things others couldn’t,” Raible said. “Travis was everybody’s biggest fan and biggest supporter.”
Scott Sanner told the court that Travis was his brother and best friend. They spent hours talking on the phone, working on cars and Travis’ house — which he’d saved for years to buy.
“I think it hurts even more not knowing what we could have done together and what memories we could have made,” he said.
The night of the shooting, Scott said, Travis called him for help. He heard Trusso shoot his brother on the phone, heard his brother’s body hit the floor, and then heard Trusso swear at him.
“What about that, [expletive?]’”
“I screamed at him through the phone to save my brother,” Scott said. “No one saved him.”