TYLER COUNTY, Texas — *Editor's Note: Some of the details of this story may be disturbing for some readers.
A man was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on Thursday in a brutal murder of a 64-year-old Onalaska woman.
Investigators said Christopher Paulette kidnapped Susan Morris before torturing and murdering her, leaving her body bound to a support beam in the attic of a Hillister house.
A man was found 'zip-tied' inside that house on FM 1013.
Paulette was found inside the house with a loaded pistol with a homemade silencer.
As Paulette was being taken to jail, investigators say he tried to drop something he took from his back pocket. They found it was Morris' debit card.
When Morris was found, investigators say her face was severely beaten and her legs and feet were covered with concentrated burns.
Jurors found beyond a reasonable doubt that he kidnapped and tortured Morris before killing her by stomping her face and neck repeatedly with steel-toe combat boots.
His trial lasted four days.
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