EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – “That day, I told her that the defendant was not someone she should be associated with, and she needed to get away from him now.”

Roy Lueth spoke these words at the sentencing of his daughter’s killer, Brad Cournaya, who will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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“Well, you can never get justice,” Lueth added. “That’s really not [a possibility] in these cases.”

Krista Lueth, a then 34-year-old botany student at MSU, disappeared in November 2008. She had been in a relationship with Cournaya, which she ended after discovering he had taken and used her credit card.

Evidence showed Cournaya was furious about the breakup and repeatedly contacted Krista, professing his love and begging for a second chance. She vanished just five days later, leaving food on her stove and her pet locked in her apartment as though she had only stepped out for a moment. That night, she failed to appear for her urban gardening class, and her family reported her missing.

Though her body was never found, the case was declared a homicide in 2009. Cournaya has not revealed the location of her remains.

“I … considered playing on your conscience in telling you that I hope every single time you close your eyes, you see Krista’s face,” said Judge Joyce Draganchuck ahead of the sentencing. “But then I reminded myself that you have no conscience. Furthermore, you do not deserve to see Krista’s face.”

Cournaya, now 56 and a registered sex offender, sat motionless during Lueth’s victim impact statement and declined the opportunity to speak.

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“I only have words for those who love Krista, and they are: I’m sorry for your loss, your loss of a daughter, a friend, a student,” Draganchuk said. “The most important part is she’s with you always.”