JOHNSON COUNTY —A Kansas judge sentenced a man who admitted to stabbing a woman to death and stuffing her body into a trash can in 2018.
On May 29, a judge sentenced 53-year-old Ronald Lee Kidwell to 18-years in prison for the death of 43-year-old MeShon Cooper in July 2018, according to the Johnson County District Attorney's Office.
Earlier this year, Kidwell pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the case.
Kidwell is white and Cooper was black. At the time of the killing, the FBI said it was investigating the case as a possible hate crime.
Kidwell was initially ordered to stand trial for intentional second-degree murder in 2019, five years before his eventual guilty plea.
Cooper was reported missing on July 6, 2018. The day she went missing, police located her vehicle with the keys inside near East Seventh Street and Myrtle Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.
Three days later, her body was found after investigators traced Cooper's phone to Kidwell's home in Shawnee, Kansas.
According to a police affidavit, Kidwell told police Cooper attacked him at his home and threatened to tell everyone that he is HIV positive. He said he “flipped out” when Cooper hit him in the hand with a knife, which he grabbed before stabbing and killing her.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report