The New York woman who was convicted last month for torturing her partner for months before ultimately killing her and dumping the body in a storage bin behind her apartment building in 2024 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kenya Tilford, 43, of New Ro chelle, was convicted at trial last month of murder in the first degree, under the torture-murder provision of that statute, in addition to multiple other crimes for torturing Concetta Morton for three months before killing. The judge also provided permanent orders of protection for Tilford’s multiple victims. Charges against Tilford included murder, strangulation, concealment of a human corpse, and intimidating a victim or witness, among others. Westchester County District Attorney’s Office said it was the first time in its history that charges have been brought against someone for a torture killing. “In a first for this Office, we are charging the defendant for not only murder, but also for allegedly acting in an especially cruel manner and inflicting torture upon Ms. Morton before her death,” former District Attorney Miriam Rocah said in a statement at the time of the charges. According to peosecutors, Tilford tortured the 27-year-old for three months before strangling her to death. She then allegedly dumped Morton’s body in a storage bin behind her New Rochelle apartment. “During this period, the defendant was captured on surveillance video purchasing a hooded coverall, bleach, tarps, paper towels, rubber gloves, a chainsaw and the storage bin in which the victim’s body was found,” a press release from the Westchester County DA’s Office previously said. Morton’s body was found thanks to a tip to Tarrytown police. Tilford was then arrested on Sept. 15, 2023. Prosecutors also brought charges against Tilford for allegedly threating someone with a knife and physically assaulting an intimate partner. “There are no words that can adequately convey the horrors experienced by Concetta Morton at the hands of the defendant, who tortured her with deliberate cruelty for three months before suffocating her to death,” Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacac said in a statement. “Today, after years of sustained effort from this office, the New Rochelle Police Department, the Dunn family and the surviving victims of Ms. Tilford’s sexual abuse, the Westchester community can finally begin to heal from these traumas. Ms. Tilford will be spending the rest of her life in prison.” ...read more read less