Man gets life in prison for 2008 murder

Waterbury, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his 20-year-old girlfriend and setting her Waterbury apartment on fire.

Thirty-nine-year-old Vernon Cowan was sentenced Wednesday in Waterbury Superior Court after pleading guilty to murder and arson in the stabbing death of Whitney Bass in March 2008. Police say Cowan was dating Bass, even though he was married.

Waterbury police said Cowan killed Bass during an argument at her apartment and dumped her body in Otis, Mass., then burned his car in Hartford and set fire to her apartment.

The Republican-American reports that Bass' mother, Dawn Bass, yelled at Cowan Wednesday and said she often imagines her daughter calling to her for help in her final moments.

Cowan was released from prison in 2006 after serving two decades for rape, robbery and other crimes.