GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- A so-called 'mountain man' who lived in a cave near the Appalachian Trail has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a female hiker last year at her campsite.
Stephen Roy Carr, 22, who was convicted in October of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Rebecca Wight, 29, of Blacksburg, Va., was sentenced Wednesday by Adams County Judge Oscar Spicer.
The shaggy-haired, gaunt-faced Carr, who lived in a cave near the Appalachian Trail, shot Wight and another hiker, Claudia Brenner, 32, of Ithaca, N.Y., with a .22-caliber rifle last May 13 along the Appalachian Trail in Michaux State Forest in Franklin Township, Adams County.
Wight, a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, died of gunshot wounds to the head. Brenner, who survived the attack despite severe wounds to her face and arms, walked 3 miles for help.
Carr was captured several days later during an intense manhunt.
During the non-jury trial, Carr's attorney said his client had felt rejected by women his entire life. When he came upon the two women making love, he thought they were taunting him and became enraged, the attorney said.
Before sentencing, Spicer listened to statements from Brenner and the dead woman's father, Leon Wight.
In an emotional voice, Brenner said she wished the sound of shots, which she described as a 'shattering reality' were part of a bad dream from which she could awaken.
'I wish that the inconceivable pain and horror I experienced were fears with no basis in reality,' she said. But... 'every time I feel my cheek, my teeth, my neck, my heart, I know I have been permanently harmed.'
She thanked the court system for upholding the truth of a 'completely unprovoked and pointless murder.'
Leon Wight told the judge no matter what punishment Carr received, it would never wipe out the loss his family felt upon the death of his daughter.
'He will still be able to taste food, read books, make friends, and my daughter will never be able to do that again,' he said.
