OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington man who was pulled over with a dead woman in his pickup truck has been sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison for first-degree murder.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor gave 27-year-old Bernard Keith Howell the maximum penalty at Thursday’s sentencing. The Olympian says Howell earlier pleaded guilty to killing 60-year-old Vanda Boone last August on the Yelm-Tenino Trail.
The Thurston County sheriff’s office says Boone died after her throat was slit. The coroner said blunt-force injuries to her head and neck and asphyxia from strangulation also contributed to her death. Detectives have said they think she was walking or riding a bike on the trail when she was attacked.
Boone moved to the Yelm area from the New York City area in March 2010 to work as a massage therapist. She worked at Radiance Herbs and Massage in Olympia and studied at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment.
