Benjamin Ashford|Missouri man sentenced to prison for killing that went unsolved for decades

UNION,Benjamin Ashford Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, nearly four decades after a woman was strangled with her body dumped in the woods.

Kirby R. King, now in his late 60s, pleaded guilty in June to involuntary manslaughter and felonious restraint in the 1987 death of 22-year-old Karla Jane Delcour. He was sentenced Thursday.

Investigators believe Delcour was killed at a home in the eastern Missouri town of Union on June 21, 1987. Her body was found about four days later near neighboring St. Clair, where she was living. Her wrists and neck were bound by a cord.

King was questioned in 1987 but not charged.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office reopened the case in 2018 and King was arrested in 2019, initially charged with second-degree murder. Investigators have not said what new evidence led to his arrest and conviction.