CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing hearing for a former Virginia Tech student convicted of killing a 13-year-old girl (all times local):
4:55 p.m.
A former Virginia Tech student convicted of fatally stabbing a 13-year girl has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
David Eisenhauer of Columbia, Maryland, was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Robert Turk in the 2016 killing of Nicole Lovell.
Prosecutors said Eisenhauer killed Lovell because he feared his relationship with the 7th-grader would be exposed. Eisenhauer was then an 18-year-old freshman engineering student at Virginia Tech, while Lovell was a middle-school student from Blacksburg.
Prosecutors have identified Natalie Keepers as Eisenhauer’s accomplice. She is scheduled to stand trial in September on charges of being an accessory before the fact and concealing a body.
Eisenhauer pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, abduction and concealing a body in Lovell’s death.
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1 p.m.
The parents of a slain 13-year-old girl have testified at the sentencing hearing of the former Virginia Tech student convicted of stabbing her to death.
David Eisenhauer faces a sentence of up to life, plus 15 years, in the 2016 killing of Nicole Lovell.
During a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Lovell’s father said he’s been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression since his daughter’s death. Lovell’s mother said she sees a grief counselor and still has trouble sleeping.
Eisenhauer’s lawyers called two of his former teachers from Yakima, Washington, who said he was a gentle student eager to be accepted by his classmates. They also said he appeared to have trouble following social cues.
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11:50 p.m.
A former Virginia Tech student convicted of killing a 13-year-old girl to hide his relationship with her is facing a lengthy prison sentence.
A two-day sentencing hearing for David Eisenhauer is scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Eisenhauer pleaded no contest in the 2016 stabbing death of Nicole Lovell, a 7th-grader from Blacksburg.
Prosecutors said Eisenhauer told his alleged accomplice, Natalie Keepers, that he may have had sex with Lovell at a party, but couldn’t remember because he blacked out and woke up later in a ditch.
Keepers is scheduled to stand trial in September on charges of being an accessory before the fact and concealing a body.
When Eisenhauer entered his plea in February, Judge Robert Turk said he faces a sentence of up to life, plus 15 years.
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