Anthony Michael Kubica has been sentenced in a California courtroom to 25 years to life for murder.
The sentence was rendered on the 64-year-old, who is originally from Shawnigan Lake, by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst on Sept. 24.
Where Kubica will be held during his incarceration has yet to be determined.
Kubica was convicted by jury in November after just a single day of deliberations in Banning, California, of killing Marie Darling, 78, 30 years ago.
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The jury found him guilty of kidnapping and murdering the wealthy Palm Springs resident who disappeared from her home in 1990.
Her body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag by hikers alongside a highway, with her feet bound in duct tape.
An autopsy performed on the body at the time found the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.
It was discovered after Darling’s body was found that more than $184,000 had been transferred out of her Swiss bank account to an account in Anguilla that Kubica, who lived and operated a company in Palm Springs at the time, had allegedly opened around the same time the body was found.
Kubica and his wife, whom the court documents refer to as CJ, were suspects early in the investigation but the trail went cold.
A cold-case investigator later discovered that Kubica’s wife was Darling’s financial advisor, even though she’d denied knowing Darling during the original investigation.
Kubica’s wife has since died.
Kubica was living in the Cowichan Valley in 2017 when California issued a request for him to be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial.
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The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that there was enough evidence for him to be extradited to face charges of murder and kidnapping.
After the Supreme Court’s ruling, the case went to former Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, whose approval was required for an extradition to take place after a judicial process determines there is enough evidence for a suspect to face charges in another country.
It took almost eight months for the minister’s approval for Kubica’s extradition, which finally took place in late 2018.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
