Western Ark. man gets 35 years in death of woman

VAN BUREN, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing his estranged girlfriend in a football stadium parking lot a year ago.

In Crawford County Circuit Court on Wednesday, 44-year-old Ronald Anthony Cash pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors said Cash shot 40-year-old Tammie Lea Schlude, then called his ex-wife and father to tell them what he had done.

Schlude's body was found Feb. 5, 2012, at Blakemore Field with a gunshot wound to the back of her head. Investigators said Cash told them he had killed the woman because she was seeing another man.

The Times-Record newspaper at Fort Smith said prosecutors had charged Cash with capital murder but didn't pursue the death penalty. A trial was to start next Monday.

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