CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - A Springfield businessman will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 1985 rape and murder of a 20-year-old waitress.
Gerald Carnahan was sentenced Monday to life in prison without possiblity of parole and another life sentence for rape. The sentences will run consecutively.
Carnahan was convicted in September for the June 1985 death of Jackie Johns of Nixa. Her naked, bruised body was pulled from Lake Springfield four days after she went missing near a restaurant where she worked.
The crime wasn't solved until 2007, when DNA evidence linked Carnahan to Johns.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that defense attorney Dee Wampler filed an immediate appeal to the sentence.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, www.news-leader.com