Man sentenced to life in prison for 2015 Columbus County murder

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Shortly after deliberations began, a Columbus County jury has returned a verdict in the murder trial of Nathan Tyler, Jr.

The jury found Tyler guilty of first degree murder in the death of Alicia Deans. They also returned guilty verdicts for first degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Deans’  brother Wesley gave a victim-impact statement.

While on the verge of tears, he said he can’t imagine what Deans’ two children are going through without their mother.

“To lose your sister is extremely painful, but losing your daughter is another kind of hurt,” he said, while describing how gut-wrenching is it seeing his mom deal with Alicia’s death.

Tyler was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Deans’ mother, Sheila Deans, said one word comes to mind after the verdict.

“Grateful. I’m just so grateful that he can’t hurt anybody else. I mean, we’ve all worried about that. I mean, it was told in there how he bullied and being- you know, he tried to hurt other people too. So we’re just glad no one else will get hurt,” Sheila Deans said.

Alicia Marie Deans

Two of Tyler’s co-defendants also testified against him during the trial, describing how Tyler wanted them to stage a robbery in order to use Deans’ car to kidnap Tyler’s ex-girlfriend.

Deans was shot in the head, her body found in a wooded area of Columbus County.

We’ll have more details tonight on WWAY News.