RIVERSIDE - Two men who beat and strangled an 18-year-old woman because they believed she had identified them as suspects in a burglary should be sentenced to death, separate juries recommended today.

Glen Joseph Jones, 26, of Wildomar, and Jeffree Jay Buettner, 33, of Menifee, were convicted Dec. 14 of murdering 18-year-old Stephanie Ann Benton.

The defendants had separate juries, which began deliberating in the penalty phase of their trial Thursday.

Both juries returned today with unanimous verdicts.

In addition to first-degree murder, Jones' jury convicted him of special circumstance allegations of killing a witness to prevent their testimony and killing during a kidnapping.

Buettner's jury convicted him of murder and allegations of lying in wait and killing a witness.

The defendants are slated to be sentenced April 23 by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Christian Thierbach.

"Deputy District Attorney John Aki helped the juries look deep into the heart of the victim to see the value of her life, which was brutally ended by these two men,'' said District Attorney Rod Pacheco. "For more than seven years, Stephanie's family has gone through a very difficult process. I hope they can find solace in the decisions of these juries.''

On June 10, 2002, Riverside County sheriff's deputies discovered Benton's decomposed remains in a 55-gallon drum dumped near the intersection of Nichols Road and Collier Avenue, on the outskirts of Lake Elsinore.

She had a leather strap wound around her neck, and her head was completely canvassed in duct tape.

Three weeks earlier, Benton had loaned her Toyota Tercel to Jones, who was an acquaintance, according to the Advertisement

[ Berry-Bell and Hall Mortuary ] prosecution.

On May 21, 2002, Jones and Buettner allegedly drove the compact car to a Lake Elsinore house they tried to burglarize. The following day, a sheriff's deputy stopped Benton when he spotted the Tercel, which witnesses to the

attempted break-in had described to investigators.

When asked where her car was the preceding day, Benton told the deputy she had loaned it to Jones, according to the prosecution.

Word of the encounter spread through the circles in which Benton, Jones and Buettner ran, and the El Cajon woman was labeled a "snitch'' for linking the accused to the burglary, court papers state.

Benton, unaware she had incurred the defendants' wrath, agreed to loan them her car again a few days later, according to Aki.

He said that on May 28, the defendants arranged to meet Benton near a Lake Elsinore trailer park to return her vehicle, and during the encounter, the men knocked her unconscious with a flashlight.

Buettner and Jones bound the woman's hands and feet and encased her head in duct tape, then put her in the rear compartment of her Tercel and drove around for several hours, possibly hoping she would suffocate, according to the

prosecutor.

The defendants finally stopped, removed Benton from the car and strangled her with Jones' belt, Aki said.

The men stashed the Tercel in a barn for several days, until Buettner removed Benton's body and stuffed it in the drum.

"After 7 1/2 years, justice has finally been done for Stephanie,'' said

Aki. "The jurors, by their verdicts, have echoed the public's belief that

there is no place in society for people like Buettner and Jones.''