Dawn Bailey’s generous heart and her ability to give people the benefit of the doubt ultimately led to her brutal murder at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, her distraught parents believe.

“She did a lot for him. That was her problem. It was her downfall,” Bruce Bailey said outside the Barrie courthouse Tuesday. “We brought up a child that would give people second chances and it’s too bad that people take advantage of that.”

Bailey, 26, was murdered in her parents’ Gilford home in July 2011 by Bradford native Ryan Kovacs who quickly confessed to the horrific slaying and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year.

Justice Michael Brown sentenced the 29-year-old convicted killer to a 25-year life sentence with no chance of parole for 16 years.

“This was an unspeakable tragedy. This was heart wrenching. And it’s clear that her family and friends were devastated by the death,” Justice Brown said before passing sentence. “I feel privileged to have gotten to know Dawn if only in a small way.”

Bailey and Kovacs met through an online dating website and stayed together for about two years, even contemplating marriage at one point.

But as the relationship broke off, Kovacs continued to cling to a notion of rekindling the affair and was infuriated when Bailey finally attempted to cut ties by cancelling a shared cell phone plan.

Justice Brown said the brutal murder — he stabbed her eight times as she begged for her life — was even more disturbing because it wasn’t done in the heat of the moment.

“There was an element of planning, bringing it closer to first-degree murder,” Justice Brown said. “This was a particularly brutal crime involving stabbing, strangulation and gratuitous violence. Ryan Kovacs set her bedroom on fire and she inhaled smoke as she lay there dying.”

Court heard Kovacs sent Facebook messages to an acquaintance days before Bailey’s death, predicting he would soon be in jail for hurting someone. On the day of the murder, he drove two hours from Huntsville to Gilford filled with rage because Bailey had rebuffed him. He snuck into the house, saw her sleeping in her bedroom, and went back to the kitchen to retrieve a knife before stabbing her.