SAN DIEGO – SAN DIEGO (AP) — An ex-convict will serve 75 years to life in a state prison for killing his 80-year-old lover and encasing the body in cement in a San Diego backyard.
Forty-one-year-old Thomas Jeffrey Brooks was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for the asphyxiation of Edward Clayton Andrews.
Prosecutors say Brooks killed the 80-year-old man in May 2008 after becoming his pen pal and lover. Brooks and an accomplice then encased Andrews' body in a concrete orb that was the centerpiece of a rock garden in the backyard of Brooks' landlord.
Prosecutors say Brooks withdrew $24,000 from Andrews' accounts and made $108,000 in phony check deposits over eight months.
His accomplice who helped encase the body was sentenced to nine years.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
