A Portland man who killed his mentally ill tenant with a hammer and hid her body in a shed in 2014 was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison.

Gary A. Lewis, 63, apologized to family members of Renee Sandidge-Crowell who sat behind him in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in a plea deal. He originally faced a murder charge.

"I'll always regret what I did," said a bearded and shackled Lewis.

Two Sandidge-Crowell family members declined to comment after the court hearing. They didn't speak during the sentencing hearing.

Judge Eric Bergstrom also ordered Lewis to pay about $2,200 in restitution, with some of the money to go toward counseling for his teenage daughter. She saw her father beating his 59-year-old tenant and dragging the body in a tarp through the backyard.

Prosecutors reached the plea deal to give Sandidge-Crowell's relatives closure and so they could "have a goodbye to their family member with privacy and dignity," said Deputy District Attorney Jenna Plank.

In a plea petition, Lewis admits to killing Sandridge-Crowell on June 7, 2014 "under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance."

Prosecutors dropped other charges against him as part of the deal -- unlawful use of a weapon, second-degree abuse of a corpse and felon in possession of body armor.

According to court documents, Lewis and Sandidge-Crowell had been involved in a monthslong dispute before she was killed. He had tried to evict her from the basement apartment in his Northeast Portland home.

Lewis was suffering from liver disease, failing cognitive abilities and was having trouble coping with Sandidge-Crowell continuing to live in the apartment, court documents said.

Sandidge-Crowell had been diagnosed mental illnesses that included borderline personality disorder.

Lewis' wife called police after the couple's then- 15-year-old daughter told her what she saw, court documents said. The landlord and tenant had been arguing earlier that day.

Police officers couldn't find Sandidge-Crowell or Lewis when they arrived at the home in the 3900 block of Northeast 66th Avenue.

The next day, police saw surveillance footage from the property that showed Lewis following Sandidge-Crowell, then later appearing to move her body, holding a bloody hammer and carrying bleach, court documents said.

The footage shows that Lewis' wife and son may have also seen Sandidge-Crowell's body after the attack, the documents said. Investigators then went back to the home, searched a shed on the property and found the tenant's body wrapped in a blue tarp inside a false wall.

An autopsy found she died from blunt force head trauma.

Lewis was arrested on June 12 after someone spotted him walking in Northeast Portland and called police.

He was carrying a bag with metal knuckles, knives, pepper spray, credit and debit cards, nearly $1,500 in cash and a handwritten letter with instructions on getting to Canada.

Four ballistic vests, boxes of ammunition, long-term food supplies, gold, silver and five guns were seized from Lewis properties in Portland and St. Helens.

He was described in the court papers as an anti-government survivalist who was prepping for "doomsday."

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey