WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE – Vernon Kennedy has been sentenced to life in prison 25 years after he killed a woman in her Baton Rouge home.

The sentence was handed down today in district court. Kennedy was convicted Dec. 3 for raping and beating 19-year-old Tina Marie Kristynik to death in 1985.

The case had gone cold before Kennedy submitted a DNA sample in 2006, when he was imprisoned for a 1995 Georgia murder. Investigators matched the sample to DNA they had submitted in 2004, which led to a conviction.

Kennedy’s conviction carried a mandatory life sentence.