Lindsey Bruce, 25, was sentenced Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court for the murder of five-year-old Emily Rimel in 2004.
Bruce was sentenced to life without paroley. He said he was innocent in the death of Rimel who disappeared from a local apartment.
Several of Emily Rimel's relatives made emotional statements prior to sentencing. One said she never wanted Bruce to be free again for fear her own child would be in danger. Jane Rimel, the murdered five-year-old's mother, said her whole life had been destroyed.
Later Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Sheeran told Bruce he'd committed an "unspeakable act." The judge wondered aloud if the defendant understood what he had done.
"I don't know, Mr. Bruce. During the course of the trial I never got the impression that you cared one iota about that," Juge Sheeran said.
Emily Rimel disappeared after Bruce had spent the night at the family's apartment. A previous jury had convicted Bruce of her kidnapping even though her remains had not been found. When her skull was discovered in a creek last year, Bruce was tried for murder. A jury on Thursday recommended life without parole. Judge Sheeran agreed.
"Regardless of what we do here, Emily Rimel's birthdays will not be noted in celebration but in tears and in profound sorrow at an incomplete gravesite," Sheeran said.
Bruce's court appointed attorneys acknowledged that their client is indigent. Bruce has the right to appeal Thursday's verdict.