KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas City man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the killing more than five years ago of a woman whose body was found stuffed in a trash bag.
Kevin Hurley, 62, was sentenced Monday for the 2015 beating death of 42-year-old Brandy Helbock-Castaneda. A judge found Hurley guilty in December of second-degree murder in the case.
Helbock-Castaneda’s sister reported her missing on Dec. 5, 2015. Her body was found in the trash bag on Jan. 8, 2016. Hurley was arrested in March 2018 after DNA taken from the victim's ankle matched his, according to court documents.
After Hurley denied knowing Castaneda, further testing showed DNA from a rope around the victim’s hips matched Hurley’s or someone in his paternal lineage. Hurley had been paroled in 2013 after serving nearly 30 years for first-degree robbery and murder convictions in Jackson County.