Man sentenced in murder, dismemberment of girlfriend | Crime

A Gold Bar man was sentenced to prison in the witchcraft-fueled murder and dismemberment of his ex-girlfriend.

On Friday Eric Christensen was sentenced to 37.5 years in prison in the January death of Sherry Harlan.

Christensen, 40 was convicted of first-degree murder earlier this month after jurors rejected his lawyer's argument that the killing was a crime of passion, and not premeditated.

 Harlan, 35, was killed sometime between Jan. 2 and 3 by Christensen after Christensen found a text message from another man on her cell phone.

According to court documents, Christensen told police that Harlan had broken a "Wiccan blood oath" she had made to break off a relationship with the other man.

Christiansen told investigators, "In ancient times, people who broke blood oaths were sometimes killed," according to court documents, adding the discovery of the text message made him angry.

After the killing, Christensen dismembered her body, then asked a friend to drive him around the Gold Bar area to help dispose of the woman's remains, prosecutors said. Her burned-out car was found earlier with human remains inside in the Reiter Pit area near Gold Bar.

The defense attorney admitted Christensen killed Harlan, but she pressed the jury to believe that he just snapped. But the prosecutor said it was a cold-blooded, calculated murder.

Harlan's body was cut up into nine pieces. Her skull was found in her car, and Christensen set it on fire to hide evidence.

A close friend of the victim said she used a mouth guard in court in order to withstand the grisly testimony.