OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A drifter who beat an Omaha man and stomped on him until he stopped breathing before rolling the body into a couch has been sentenced to 64 to 82 years in prison.
Louis French Jr., 37, was sentenced Wednesday in the death of of 55-year-old Kelly Barges in July 2019.
Prosecutors said French beat Barges with a chain, strangled him and stomped on him until he stopped breathing before stuffing his body into a cutup couch, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Five people were using methamphetamine and drinking at Jensen’s apartment in July 2019, investigators said. A police detective testified that French attacked Barges because he wouldn’t stop talking and made a derogatory comment about a woman who was there.
Barges’ body remained in the couch until it was found Aug. 6 after an exterminator was called because of a smell in the apartment.
The three other people in the apartment are awaiting sentencing on lesser charges related to the death.
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