TOLEDO, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman whose body has never been found has been given 50 years in an Iowa prison.Court records say 51-year-old Tait Purk was sentenced Thursday. In December a judge found him guilty of second-degree murder for killing Cora Okonski nearly 18 years ago.

In May a jury convicted Purk of murder, but a judge found the verdict wasn’t backed by evidence.Okonski disappeared in April 16, 2000, while she was living with Purk in Tama. Purk had told authorities she had left to buy cigarettes and never returned.

A former fellow inmate of Purk’s testified that Purk told him he had killed his fiancee during an argument, kept her body in a bathroom closet overnight and then buried her.