Man Convicted Of Killing South Boston Woman Gets Life Sentence

A Boston man convicted of killing a 67-year-old grandmother has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Timothy Kostka was sentenced Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court. He was convicted Friday of first-degree murder for the April 2012 killing of Barbara Coyne.

Prosecutors say the 30-year-old Kostka broke into the victim's South Boston home looking for things to steal things to feed his heroin habit. When he was confronted by Coyne he beat her and slashed her throat.

He stole lottery tickets, and cashed them for money to buy drugs.

Investigators found Kostka's fingerprints on Coyne's jewelry boxes and his DNA under her fingernails.

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said this case shows just how far some people will go to get a fix.

"I'm very worried about the fact that there'll be more Timothy Kostkas out there who are addled with heroin, who have one single goal in mind: to steal other people's money, break into their homes," Conley said. "The potential for these things happening scare the heck out of me."

Coyne's family said in a statement released through the district attorney's office that: "The defendant will never again have the opportunity to hurt another family."

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom