Murdering his ex-girlfriend -- who had confronted him for reportedly sleeping with her stepsister -- has earned Dustin Hilt a "Hard 50"
sentence, meaning he'll be locked up for 50 years without a chance of
parole. He'll also serve a 165-month consecutive sentence for aggravated
kidnapping and 61 months for aggravated robbery.
A jury convicted
Hilt on April 14 for killing Keighley Ann Alyea. She was 18.
Alyea and Hilt's relationship was allegedly
abusive, but they must have seen something in each other. They had
each gotten the other's name tattooed
on their bodies (Alyea's father vowed to have Hilt's name removed
before Alyea's funeral).
Hilt, 18, was the first of three men to be
tried in Alyea's murder; also awaiting trial are 19-year-old Gerald
Calbeck (a scheduling conference is scheduled for July 23) and 22-year-old
Joseph Mattox (his trial is scheduled for September 20).
Alyea disappeared in the early hours of September 30, 2009. Her body was
October 5 in a farm field in Cass County, Missouri.
Hilt,
Mattox and Calbeck were accused of beating Alyea so
severely that they thought she was dead. Then they allegedly stuffed her
body in the trunk of a car and drove to
rural Cass County to dump her body. But Alyea
started hitting the
trunk and calling for help.
After
hearing the pounding, the men
stopped and asked her if she'd tell on them. She promised not to and
begged them to take her to a hospital. Alyea was stabbed about 30 times.
Hilt's defense attorney claimed his client was only a witness to Alyea's
killing and claimed Hilt screamed at Mattox and
Calbeck to stop beating Alyea; Mattox allegedly beat Alyea with a car
jack handle. Hilt supposedly didn't tell authorities because he feared
Mattox, his cousin.
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