( CNN ) -- A Virginia man pleaded no contest to capital murder on Tuesday in the death of his girlfriend and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole , Roanoke County officials said . Jeffrey Scott Easley , 33 , was accused of murdering 41-year-old Tina Smith and abducting her 12-year-old daughter . Smith 's body was discovered in her home on December 6 , 2010 . The daughter was found five days later in San Francisco after being spotted outside a supermarket . Circuit Court Judge James Swanson accepted Easley 's plea and found him guilty of capital murder . He dropped the `` abduction with intent to defile '' charge and sentenced him to life in prison with no chance of parole . In January 2011 , Easley wrote a letter to the Roanoke Times , saying the girl was his willing cross-country companion . `` I did not kidnapp her or take her aginest her will , '' Easley wrote in a misspelled letter postmarked from the Western Virginia Regional Jail . `` She made me promise not to leave her . '' Smith died from blunt force trauma to the head , strangulation and suffocation .
A judge sentences Jeffrey Lee Easley to life in prison without the possibility of parole . He was also convicted of abducting his wife 's year - old daughter . The body was found five days later in San Diego .