A father from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to life in prison for killing his daughter and dumping her body in New York, authorities said. 

Kabary Salem was sentenced to life in prison for the October 2019 killing of his 25-year-old daughter, Ola Salem, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said in a news release on Wednesday. Officials said the 57-year-old Kabary Salem killed his daughter in Palmyra and drove to a park in Staten Island to dispose of her body.

The news release said Ola Salem "fought for her life" before her father killed her. Her cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma.

"This life sentence will not bring Ola back, but it offers a measure of justice and accountability against the defendant," Attorney General Dave Sunday said in the news release.

Kabary Salem was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in Lebanon County in October, according to a news release from the state attorney general. The trial lasted one week. 

When police interviewed Kabary Salem after his daughter's body was found covered in branches and leaves in Bloomingdale Park, officials said he fled to the Middle East. He was later arrested in December 2020 in Kuwait and brought back to the United States to face charges. 

"A father is supposed to love and protect his child, but, this defendant committed one of the cruelest acts imaginable — he murdered his daughter in cold blood," Sunday said in Wednesday's news release.