15 years in prison for man who killed for money

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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — A defendant who pleaded no contest to strangling a man in a dispute over money and burying his body has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by Eau Claire County Circuit Court.

Larry Fernandez, 46, entered the plea and was found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide in the 2012 death of Frederick “Brian” Harvey at the victim’s trailer home in Eau Claire. A number of other felony charges, including hiding a corpse, were dismissed in an agreement with prosecutors.

Family members filed a missing persons report after Harvey disappeared. The family believed Fernandez was involved because of a violent past and because he’d given them false information, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reported Wednesday.

Fernandez was accused of burying Harvey’s body on rural property near Bruce in Rusk County.

The victim’s sister, Robin Gydesen, held a clock near a courtroom microphone when giving a statement during sentencing Tuesday. Four minutes ticked by, the estimated time it took to kill her brother, Gydesen said.

“That was how long the defendant had to change his mind and stop what he was doing and let Brian live,” Gydesen told the judge. That was the amount of time Fernandez had “to stop before he changed the lives of many, many people, not just my brother,” she said.

Fernandez declined to comment during the sentencing hearing.

Information from: Leader-Telegram, http://www.leadertelegram.com/