A Georgia judge has handed down a life sentence to a 37-year-old woman for the murder of a man who employed her as his caregiver following a stroke.

Danetta Knoblauch was found guilty in November of felony murder for the fatal beating of 57-year-old Melvin Cooksey in 2023, according to the Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. On Wednesday, she received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, plus an additional 30 years.

On February 23, 2023, Newton County deputies responded to a fire at a residence on Mote Road. Investigators concluded that the fire was deliberately set, with propane tanks strategically placed around the property. Despite the discovery, Cooksey was not found and was subsequently reported missing, prompting a widely-publicized search that yielded no results.

In May 2023, hikers in Fannin County, approximately 130 miles from Cooksey’s home, stumbled upon a skull and other skeletal remains. The body, identified by a pacemaker, was confirmed to be Cooksey’s via the pacemaker’s serial number. The investigation pointed to Knoblauch as the suspect, thanks to witness accounts, social media evidence, and license plate reader data.

Knoblauch’s criminal past further implicated her; she was wanted for assaulting another man with a sledgehammer and screwdriver in Kansas. Police eventually located her in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she barricaded herself with her child for an extended period before being apprehended. During custody, she reportedly provided “incriminating information.”

Knoblauch was extradited to Georgia in July 2023 and indicted for murder and other charges the next month.

According to a courtroom report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cooksey suffered a stroke which caused heart problems and forced him into a wheelchair. He put out an online advertisement for a caregiver. The defendant responded to the ad and moved from Kansas to Georgia to care for him. But within days, she beat him to death with a sledgehammer before transporting his body to the mountains more than 100 miles away.

In addition to murder, jurors also convicted Knoblauch of aggravated assault, first-degree arson and concealing the death of another after the weeklong trial.

“Because of the tireless work of the prosecution team and the lead investigators, the person responsible for this senseless and heinous crime has been convicted,” District Attorney Randy McGinley said in a statement. “This was a complicated case that required expertise in so many areas and a dedication to finding the truth.”

Cooksey’s family members followed the case every step of the way and were pleased to receive justice.

“He had [a] good spirit,” his sister Brenda Hardy told the Journal-Constitution. “He didn’t deserve what happened to him at all.”

As for Knoblauch, she never admitted to the killing.

“I am innocent,” she said before deputies led her away in handcuffs.