Alaska Man Gets 99 Years for Torturing, Murdering Neighbor

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A 29-year-old Anchorage man was sentenced Wednesday to 99 years in prison for torturing and killing his neighbor, and in doing so avoided a possible death sentence.

Judge Phillip Volland sentenced Joshua Wade in state Superior Court. Wade was to appear in U.S. District Court later Wednesday to plead to federal charges in the 2007 slaying of Mindy Schloss.

Wade addressed the packed courtroom and said he was sorry for what he had done, and deserves to suffer.

In a signed plea agreement, Wade also acknowledged that he killed another Anchorage woman in 2000. A jury had acquitted him of that crime.

Alaska doesn't have the death penalty, but Wade was indicted in federal court with shooting and killing someone during a carjacking — and federal law allows capital punishment.