NC man gets 45 years in SC girlfriend's death

GAFFNEY, S.C. — (AP) A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend in South Carolina more than three years ago.

Forty-three-year-old Joey Clark of Mooresboro, N.C., was convicted Thursday in the death of 26-year-old Winter Wingard in Cherokee County.

Investigators say Wingard was beaten, strangled and stabbed in the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2010.

A jury deliberated about two hours before returning the guilty verdict.

Prosecutors say Clark and Wingard had lived together with her mother until October 2010, when Wingard ended the relationship. Prosecutors said when Clark was killed she was in a relationship with a Georgia woman and Clark furious about the situation.

WSOC