A jury in eastern Iowa, Monday, found a central Iowa man guilty in the deaths of two Guthrie County girls. According to KCCI, 27-year old Patrick Ryan Thompson, of Story County, was convicted on two felony charges of Murder in the 1^st degree and one felony charge of arson, in the May 2017 Guthrie Center deaths of Thompson’s 12-year-old stepsister, Paige Exline, and her 16-year-old cousin, Shakiah Cockerham, both of whom died in the blaze.

The first trial last month ended in a mistrial. The judge took the action after someone started loudly discussing the case with prospective jurors while the judge and lawyers were outside the courtroom. The trial had been moved out of Guthrie County because of pretrial publicity. It took the jury in Albia 11 days and two hours to find Thompson guilty of all charges against him. Prosecutors said he started the fire to prevent Exline from testifying that she had been sexually abused by her father.

Thompson will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison.