Former student convicted in slaying, mutilation of woman in Texas

A former University of Texas student was convicted of shooting and mutilating a 21-year-old woman whose body was found in his bathtub with her head and hands cut off.

Colton Pitonyak, 24, was sentenced to 55 years in prison on the murder conviction. He could have faced life in prison.

Pitonyak testified he did not remember killing Jennifer Cave, a legal secretary whom he described as a close friend, after they spent a night on the town in August 2005. He said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and discovered the body the next day after sobering up.

Pitonyak then fled to Mexico with another woman, Laura Ashley Hall. Both were arrested less than a week after the body was discovered Aug. 18, 2005, and returned to the United States. Hall faces charges of hindering apprehension but has not been charged in the killing.

Prosecutors painted Pitonyak as a drug-dealing junkie. Defense attorneys argued the shooting could have been an accident.

Cave's body was found in Pitonyak's bathtub with dozens of stab wounds and her head and hands cut off. The wounds were inflicted after she died, a medical examiner testified.