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SALT LAKE CITY -- Some 35 years after Barbara Rocky was murdered, Gerald Hicker admitted in court Friday that he shot and killed the Brigham Young University student.
Hicker, now 58-years-old, and Rocky were friends and classmates at BYU. In fact, Hicker reported Rocky missing.
He had long been suspected of the murder, but it wasn't until 2007 that he was arrested and charged with shooting Rocky five times in Big Cottonwood Canyon in 1974. Rocky's naked body was found by a utility worker the following day.
Hicker's DNA was discovered when a soil-sample from the crime scene was retested. He was arrested in Tacoma, Wash., where he was living, and extradited to Utah to stand trial.
Hicker pleaded guilty to second degree felony manslaughter and was sentenced Friday to up to five years in the Utah State Prison.
Hicker has cancer, among a myriad of other health problems, and isn't expected to outlive his sentence.
