COVINGTON, La. — A 57-year-old Northshore man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing his estranged longtime girlfriend and burning her body.
State District Judge Raymond Childress sentenced Gary L. Harris on Tuesday to 40 years for manslaughter in the death of Nanette King and 10 years for obstructing justice, District Attorney Warren Montgomery said in a news release Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Lisa Page said he had been charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the reduced charges on Feb. 14 — a week after his 67-year-old brother had pleaded guilty as an accessory after the fact.
Montgomery said Childress sentenced Ray Harris to five years for helping Gary Harris get away and hide evidence.
Both are from Bush, about 45 miles north of New Orleans in St. Tammany Parish.
King, 42, was reported missing Sept. 20, 2015, after she left work and never returned to the Bogalusa motel where she and their adult daughter had gone to get away from the volatile relationship with Harris, authorities said.
King's burned body and car were found three weeks later in woods near Sun, about 3 miles north of Bush.
Investigators believe Gary Harris strangled King after luring her to the home they once shared to pick up her things, according to the news release.
It said Ray Harris confessed to picking up his brother from a location near where King's body was found and to helping hide evidence of the crime.
