Thomas Edward Egley, 76 years old was sentenced Tuesday, November 22 in the Seventh District Court. Egley plead guilty to second degree murder and in exchange, rape charges were dismissed. Judge George Harmond sentenced him to 10 years to life in prison.

Egley was originally a prime suspect in the murder of 23-year-old Loretta Jones in 1970, but back then charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Jones’ 4-year old daughter, Heidi Jones Asay was in the home at the time of her mother’s murder. Egley relocated to Colorado shortly after the murder.

Asay work tirelessly to convince Carbon County Sheriff’s Detectives to reopen the case and this is where she reconnected with a high school friend, Sergeant David Brewer. They spoke about her mother’s cold case and Brewer stepped up and reopened the investigation much further.

The family agreed to have Jones’s body exhumed in June of this year to allow detectives to gather possible DNA evidence left on the body to have examined with the new technology now available. The DNA results, plus new witnesses who were willing to come forward paid off for detectives. In August, Egley was arrested and confessed to raping and killing Jones and destroying evidence that would have linked him to the crime in 1970.

The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office will deliver Egley to the state prison. Egley has 30 days from the day that court documents are signed to file an appeal.