Couple gets life sentences in torture killing of Kansas man

A couple has received the maximum sentence for torturing and killing a Kansas man in a crime that the judge called “horrific beyond imagination.”

Jeff and Heidi Hillard were recently convicted of participating in the November 2016 killing of 33-year-old Scottie Goodpaster Jr. of Wichita. Both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years.

Prosecutors say Goodpaster and a woman were kidnapped because of $185 in missing drug money. Goodpaster was attacked at a home in Valley Center with an ax, knife and staple gun, and suffered genital injuries. His body was found hanging from a tree six days later.

Jeff Hillard was sentenced to another 27 .5 years for other crimes, while Heidi HIllard received an additional 44 .5 years. Those sentences will run consecutively to the life sentences.

Attorneys for both defendants say they will appeal the sentences.