Man Receives Life Sentence For Houston-Area Woman's 2002 Killing

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HOUSTON (AP) — A 45-year-old Houston man was given a life prison sentence for the 2002 beating and asphyxiation death of a woman in her north Harris County apartment.

A state district judge in Houston sentenced Craig Porter on Thursday after a jury found him guilty of murder in the killing of 22-year-old Cherita Thurman.

Porter was age 32 at the time of her death. According to testimony, Porter and Thurman went to her apartment the night of Sept. 3, 2002. Thurman was beaten, had her hands and feet bound behind her back with bed sheets and was suffocated. Her body was found the next day by an apartment complex employee.

Only 10 years later was a DNA match found with Porter. He was arrested in January 2013.

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