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MAINZ, Germany — An asylum seeker was convicted of murdering an American nanny and sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

Lauren Mann, a 25-year-old originally from Colorado, was found dead and half-naked in her apartment in the Austrian city of Vienna in January. An autopsy showed she died from suffocation.

Lauren Mann's Facebook profile photo. via Facebook

A Gambian national was arrested in connection with her death at a refugee camp in Switzerland near the Austrian border and charged with Mann's murder.

The suspect — who under Austrian law can only be identified as Abdou I. — had denied killing Mann, who had been living in Vienna for several years and working as an au pair while studying.

However, court spokesman Thomas Spreitzer told NBC News that the 24-year-old's sperm was found on Mann's body.

The prosecution had argued Abdou I. killed the American after finding her in bed with someone else, citing "jealousy" as the main motive.

An Austrian court convicted him of murder on Wednesday after a one-day trial. His lawyer immediately appealed the ruling.