Montana man gets 100 years in prison for killing girlfriend

HELENA (AP) — A southwestern Montana man who pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend and burying her body near the Madison County ranch where he worked has been sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, the Montana Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Stanley Gordon Bernardini, 58, was sentenced Monday by District Judge Luke Berger in Virginia City for the July 2018 death of Michelle Sorrows, 37, of Ennis.

Bernardini pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and evidence tampering on the first day of his trial in October 2020, saying he killed Sorrows after they fought at his apartment.

After Sorrows was reported missing in August 2018, informants told investigators that Bernardini had told them he and Sorrows fought after using methamphetamine and alcohol and that he used a backhoe to bury her on a remote part of the ranch.

Bernardini was charged with evidence tampering in November 2018 after a search of his apartment turned up evidence of blood spatter and efforts to clean it up, prosecutors said. He received a concurrent 10-year prison sentence for that charge.

Sorrows' remains were located in June 2019.