A Fulton County man was convicted of murdering a 60-year-old woman in a motel, having sex with her corpse and lighting her body on fire, authorities said.
Wallace Muhammed, 48, was found guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, necrophilia, burglary and tampering with evidence, Fulton County District Attorney spokesman Chris Hopper said. Muhammed was sentenced to life without parole plus 40 years.
The jury determined that Muhammed broke into a Town and Country Motel room on Metropolitan Parkway in southwest Atlanta that was occupied by Linda Jarrard, 60, in April 2013, Hopper said.
Jarrard screamed and said she would call 911 before Muhammed beat her with his hands and fists, causing her to suffer a brain hemorrhage, Hopper said. Muhammed then strangled her, fracturing a bone in her neck.
The jury found that he then decided to have sex with the corpse before using a cigarette lighter and some bed sheets to light Jarrard’s body on fire in the motel bathtub, Hopper said. Muhammed then left the motel room.
Hopper said the man’s DNA was recovered by the GBI from a sexual assault kit and from under Jarrard’s fingernails. Muhammed’s DNA was in the system because he had been arrested 32 times.
Muhammed pleaded not guilty despite allegedly making a full confession to an Atlanta Police Department detective, Hopper said.
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