She Strangled A Widower To Death And Stuffed Him In A Freezer. She Spent The Next Month Selling Off His Belongings.

A woman choked the widower she was dating with a zip tie until he died. She tied his wrists and ankles together and stuffed his remains in a freezer. She then spent the next month selling off his belongings until his brothers found the victim.

Now, the murderer will head to prison for decades.

Recently, the 15th Judicial Circuit in Mississippi announced that Samantha Simmons, 40, was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder. She was also ordered to serve 20 years for receiving stolen property. The sentences will run back-to-back.

She was convicted of killing 54-year-old Thomas Burns, a widower and Purvis, Mississippi resident.

“We are pleased with this sentence and hope that the family of the victim finds some peace,” said District Attorney Hal Kittrell.

In 2018, Simmons was dating the victim and she choked him to death with a zip tie and then tied his ankles and hands together, prosecutors said. She then stuffed his remains in a chest freezer.

Over the next month, Simmons sold off most of his property and Burns’ vehicle, prosecutors said.

That was until neighbors and Bruns’ brother found him dead in the freezer on April 24, 2018, prosecutors said.

Simmons had the key to a padlock on the freezer and her DNA was found on the zip ties, according to prosecutors.

After her arrest, Simmons denied the theft in a note sent to her mother from jail, according to the Hattiesburg America. She claimed she paid Burns for the items to sell at a flea market.

"Mom, they are lying about all this," Simmons claimed, according to the America. "I paid Thomas for everything I had of his."

She told her mom the last time she saw Burns was when he was going to his brothers to make drugs, according to the report. She admitted to using methamphetamine, but not at the time of her arrest. She also said she was sleeping with Burns for money.

"I am so sorry y'all are having to deal with this," Simmons told her mother.