A Long Island truck driver was sentenced on Wednesday to 22 years to life for murdering his girlfriend in the cab of his truck outside a Patchogue motel in May 2023. Willie Hart, 61, of Yaphank, called police in the early hours of May 29 claiming he had found his girlfriend, 37-year-old Candace Wood ruff, unresponsive on the floor of his tractor cab parked near the Shore Motor Inn in Patchogue. Suffolk County police found the victim on the ground in front of the truck, not breathing, and noted scratches on Hart’s face that were “actively bleeding,” prosecutors said. Emergency personnel also observed injuries to Woodruff’s body, including abrasions to her face and neck, soft-tissue hemorrhaging, head and neck contusions, and bruises to her arms and legs. She was taken to Long Island Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Medical examiners later determined she died of asphyxia by neck compression. Investigators said Woodruff was seen in security camera footage leaving her motel room with several bags and entering the truck just before 1:30 a.m. that day. Hart was seen leaving the room and following Woodruff into the truck cab about nine minutes later. He remained there with Woodruff for approximately 35 minutes, during which time a struggle between them was captured on video surveillance. The long-haul truck driver was then seen leaving the vehicle and walking back to the motel room, officials said. He then grabbed a bag and placed it in a car before returning to the truck “in a disheveled state.” On Oct. 29, Hart was convicted of second-degree murder. He received 22 years to life on Wednesday — a sentence that Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney hopes can bring the victim’s family “some semblance of peace.” ...read more read less