DENVER – A man who told authorities he killed five women and buried their bodies around the state was sentenced Monday to two consecutive life prison terms.
Richard Paul White (search) had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, and Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27. The bodies of both women were found last year, buried in the yard of a home White once shared with a girlfriend.
White also was sentenced to an additional 144 years after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual assault with a deadly weapon for attacks on three women who survived.
As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors spared his life and White cooperated in the search for other victims.
In a separate case, White pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in September for last year's shooting death of his former roommate. White allegedly said he accidentally shot Jason Reichardt, 27.
Sentencing in that case was scheduled Thursday.
After he was arrested for Reichardt's death in September 2003, White told investigators he had killed five women since 1998 and buried their bodies around the state. The bodies of Turpin and Gonzales were recovered.
Authorities also searched sites in Costilla and Otero counties. One of those sites yielded the skeletal remains of a woman White said he picked up at a bus stop and later killed. The body has not been identified.
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