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Tricia Todd's ex-husband Steven Williams sentenced to 35 years in prison

Posted at 6:34 PM, Sep 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-30 21:40:44-04

Tricia Todd's ex-husband went before a judge Friday for his formal sentencing hearing in her death.

Steven Williams took a plea deal months ago when Todd was still missing.

RELATED: Ex-husband of Tricia Todd arrested, charged with murder

As part of the plea he told the Martin County Sheriff's Office he would lead detectives to Todd's remains.

Stevens also confessed to detectives that he killed his ex-wife.

The judge sentenced Stevens Friday to the agreed on 35 years in prison.

The judge also sentenced him to five years for child neglect.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

Many questioned whether or not Williams led investigators to all of Todd's remains - which were found on the Hungryland preserve buried in a container with acid.

Some say if he did not, the deal should be taken off the table. 

The sheriff says lab tests put that argument to rest. 
 
“They reconstructed it using the same amount of acid, and reported to us we had in fact undoubtedly recovered all the remains.” 

Snyder refused to second guess the plea. 
 
“The family needs to heal, the and I think the community should heal from it," he says. "Mindlessly picking at this outcome is a fool's errand at best.” 

Months after Todd's remains were found, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said lingering questions about the case remained.

"We continue to get that question 'Why? What motivated Steven to do what he did?' I think at the end of the day, it's a question only he can answer and so far he has chosen not to answer the why question."

Snyder called Williams a "liar" and said if it weren't for his detectives' hard work, he could've got away with the crime.

The sheriff hopes that Todd's family will get some closure from the hearing on Friday.

"Nothing we do-- nothing the sheriff's office or the state does-- will bring Tricia Todd back. Nothing will return the mother to her daughter, the daughter to her father, that's not going to happen," he said.

Todd's family was finally able to lay her to rest last week. They didn't want to speak to our reporters, but say there are still hard times to come and that they appreciate the support and prayers coming from the community.

 

 

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