ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — A former sheriff’s deputy and Missouri correctional officer who killed his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in a child custody dispute has been sentenced to death.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Judge Kelly Wayne Parker on Friday sentenced Marvin Rice to death for killing his ex-girlfriend, Annette Durham, in 2011. Rice was sentenced to life in prison for killing Dunham’s boyfriend, Steven Strotkamp.


Rice, a former Dent County deputy, was found guilty in August of first-degree murder for Durham’s death and second-degree murder for Strotkamp’s. The jury couldn’t decide if Rice should be put to death, leaving it to the judge.

Prosecutors said Rice and Durham had been arguing over custody of their son.