Update:Montana Man Convicted of Killing Disabled Veteran

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana jury has convicted a man of killing a disabled veteran, burying his body in the dirt floor of a barn near Great Falls, selling his pickup truck and stealing his disability benefits for several months.

Brandon Lee Craft was found guilty of deliberate homicide, tampering with evidence and deceptive practices in the February 2016 death of Adam Petzack, who was shot in the back of the head.

Petzack’s mother said she was relieved with Tuesday’s verdict, which followed a five-day trial.

“I took a deep breath,” Lori Petzack told the Great Falls Tribune. “I got my closure. I can now finally mourn and grieve my child and then celebrate his life and try and build a life for myself now that the majority of hell is done and over and gone.”

Prosecutors presented evidence that Craft confessed in August 2016 to shooting Adam Petzack seven months earlier and drew a map to guide investigators to his body.

Authorities say Craft wrote letters to his grandmother and his father-in-law acknowledging he killed the 28-year-old Petzack. The letters said Craft’s wife had nothing to do with it, prosecutors said.