Midlands man gets life sentence in 2 slayings

LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — A judge has decided not to give the death penalty to a West Columbia man for killing a 7-year-old girl and her grandmother whose bodies have never been found.

Instead, Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith sentenced 52-year-old Kenneth Lynch to life in prison without parole Tuesday.

Griffith found Lynch guilty of murder last week in the deaths of 53-year-old Portia Washington and her granddaughter, Angelica Livingston. Lynch asked the judge to hear the case instead of a jury.

The victims haven’t been seen since 2006. Washington lived with Lynch, and the girl’s blood was found in the home.

Lynch was arrested on a Greyhound bus at the Canadian border. Authorities say Lynch drove Washington’s vehicle cross-country.

Prosecutors in South Carolina haven’t sent anyone to death row in the past 14 months.