KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge sentences a 47-year-old Kansas City, Kansas man for the 2018 killing of his wife.

Gene Birdsong was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 17 more for the November 2018 deadly stabbing of his wife Tabitha.

In February, a Jackson County jury found Birdsong guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges.

According to court records, on Nov. 6, 2018, officers from the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department responded to Roanoke and Madison on a report of a body.

They found Tabitha’s body, who was reported to have obvious head injuries. They also found in her pocket an order of protection with her and Birdsong’s name on it.

Witnesses told police they were seen or heard together hours before her death. A witness also saw Birdsong with bloody pants.