A Texas man has learned his fate for strangling his neighbor to death with an electrical cord and leaving the victim”s body out in the open.

Malik Pryor, 29, was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the “brutal” strangulation of 39-year-old Jarrod Papen in 2022, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office announced. Pryor’s sentencing followed his conviction earlier this week for murder.

Papen left his apartment on May 14, 2022, and didn’t return, according to Papen’s partner, Michael Simek, who testified during the trial against Pryor. Papen and Pryor had had “several verbal disputes” in the time before this spring day, the district attorney’s office said.

Simek found a cigarette pack belonging to Papen several feet from their front door and found that strange, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by San Antonio-based ABC affiliate KSAT. He reported his partner missing the following day.

It was Pryor’s girlfriend who made the discovery into where Papen had gone. On the day the victim disappeared, she saw him in her boyfriend’s apartment – sitting on the living room floor with his back against the sofa, and he seemed like he had “passed out on alcohol or drugs,” she told police, according to court documents filed in the case.

When the girlfriend asked Pryor why Papen – who she recognized as his neighbor – was in his apartment, he said, “I don’t know. He just walked in,” San Antonio Express-News reported. She had reportedly been dating Pryor for about ten years but had recently moved out of his place.

The woman was said to have been there to drive Pryor to his father’s house, and she did so. The following day, she entered the apartment again – this time to retrieve some clothes. Upon entry, she noticed Papen was in the “same position,” and she contacted authorities.

“The Bexar County Medical Examiner later determined that Papen had been strangled to death with an electrical cord,” the district attorney’s office said. Photos of the bloody cord were shown during Pryor’s trial, as well as a bullet and blood-stained clothing, per the local newspaper. Papen also had blunt force injuries to his head.

Pryor evaded authorities for nearly a year after being wanted in the murder – until he was arrested in April 2023.

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales celebrated the sentencing on Friday.

“Justice demands accountability, and today, justice was served for the victim’s family, friends, and our community,” Gonzales said.