POPLARVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A prosecutor in Mississippi says a man who had tried to kill his ex-girlfriend by burning her alive will spend the rest of his life in prison.
District Attorney Hal Kittrell tells news outlets in a statement that Circuit Court Judge Anthony Mozingo on Tuesday sentenced 42-year-old Jerry Glenn Willis to two life sentences, plus five years. Willis pleaded guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping and taking a motor vehicle.
Kittrell says the Picayune man doused then-46-year-old Stacey Franks with gasoline and set her on fire. The DA says she is recovering from her injuries and requires further medical treatment.
Law enforcement officers found Franks on Nov. 8 by a highway in Pearl River County with burns over 40 percent of her body. Willis was captured days later in Arkansas.