A South Carolina man who murdered a woman he was dating and left her body in a ditch in 2017 pleaded guilty was sentenced this week to 45 years in prison. 

Raymond Nolan, 30, killed Shelby Head, 40, in November 2017 but her body wasn’t found until February 2018 in a Marlboro County drainage ditch, police said, according to WPDE-TV in South Carolina. 

Head had originally been reported missing by her estranged husband and had to be identified through dental records. 

Raymond Nolan, 30, pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing Shelby Head and was sentenced to 45 years. 

Raymond Nolan, 30, pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing Shelby Head and was sentenced to 45 years.  (Bennettsville Police Department)

Her cause of death was ruled as stab wounds and blunt force trauma to her head, according to WPDE

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The body of Shelby Head, 40, was found in a ditch in February 2018 three months after she went missing. Raymond Nolan pleaded guilty to her murder Thursday. 

The body of Shelby Head, 40, was found in a ditch in February 2018 three months after she went missing. Raymond Nolan pleaded guilty to her murder Thursday.  (Bennettsville Police Department)

Nolan and Head met online and he had a history of domestic violence, police said, according to WBTW-TV in the state. He was arrested for domestic violence in September 2017, shortly before she went missing. 

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He will serve a 10-year sentence for desecration of a body concurrently with the 45-year murder charge, the station reported.