'You have no soul': Judge gives life sentence to 'alphabet' criminal for 2018 murder

OMAHA - Jeremiah Connelly, convicted of killing Jeanna Wilcoxen a year ago, is headed to prison for the rest of his life.

"You, Jeremiah Connelly, have no soul," said Judge Stratman at Connelly's sentencing Wednesday.

Connelly kept a running list of his crimes based on the alphabet, trying to fill in as many of the 26 letters as possible.

Jeanna Wilcoxen had been struggling with addiction when she was abducted in South Omaha a year ago.

She often would go for a sing at Christy Heights Park while waiting for her clothes at the laundromat. That's where she met the man who would abduct and kill her.

Connelly did not react to the judge's sentence of life.

Connelly had spent more than a decade locked up for trying to abduct a jogger near the Henry Doorly Zoo. He was out on parole for about a year before he became a killer.

He was arrested after running a traffic stop in September 2018. Under questioning about a stolen vehicle, information was revealed regarding a woman's death.

Wilcoxen's body was later found on the side of the road near Fremont. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted her and eventually choked her to death. The autopsy shows she died of asphyxiation.

Connelly was convicted of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in September 2019.

"To put an exclamation point on the end of your sentence and to recognize the heinous nature of your act, you're sentenced to an additional 2-years on tampering. Deputies, please get him out of here," said Judge Stratman. "Now her brother has to raise knowing that one day this little boy will learn about the horrific way you took his mom's life."