TOOELE, Utah -- John Dean Bevan, the man who said he prayed to stay with Tina Rene Evans forever, but ended up stabbing her 17 times while she lay in bed, was sentenced to prison Tuesday for first-degree felony murder.

Evans was born in Casper graduated from Natrona County High School in the 1980s.

Bevan, 49, previously pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the crime, which occurred in August 2006 in the home the engaged couple shared with Evans' three children, then 17, 15 and 8. One of Evans' children was gone, but there were two other children, family friends, in the house when the attack happened.

Bevan was sent to the diagnostic unit at the Utah State Prison for a mental evaluation, but 3rd District Judge Mark Kouris said his reading of the report indicated Bevan was not mentally ill in the sense that he needed to be hospitalized. Instead, Bevan can and should go to prison, the judge ruled, and sentenced Bevan, 49, to five-years-to-life behind bars.

"It would surprise me if you walked out of there before age 70," said Kouris.

Evans' family took turns speaking in court and were furious with Bevan, struggling with their religious obligations to forgive, fondly recalling what a good person Evans was and questioning why a man who professed to love a woman would murder her in cold blood with children asleep downstairs.

"What made you think you had the right to take her away from us?" lamented Evans' teenage daughter. "I don't think you feel sorry for what you did. I think you're an awful person."

Ron Evans, a brother of the victim, said someone who would take a butcher knife to a tiny and delicately built woman when she was so vulnerable "isn't much of a man."

"I hope you live a long and miserable life in prison because there are no guarantees that you won't do that to another woman," he said.

Tina Evans' mother, Kim, tearfully regretted the fact that her daughter, who was 42 when she died, will not be here to help her own daughter prepare for a wedding or to kiss her grandchildren. "You took that away from her."

"I know as a Christian, I have to forgive you, but I can't right now," Kim Evans said, sobbing. "I can't."

Tooele County Attorney Douglas Hogan called the crime a "betrayal of trust" because the couple had an argument, resolved it and planned to break up. Bevan then, however, coaxed Evans into bed, where they both fell asleep, and later got up, grabbed a knife and began attacking Evans, who was lying on the bed in pajamas. He stabbed her repeatedly and answered her terrified question, "Am I going to die tonight?" with a simple "Yes."

Hogan also said Bevan eventually lay down beside Evans and listened to her labored breathing as she died. Bevan called police about 8 a.m. the next morning.

Hogan said Bevan had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but experts who evaluated him said he is not so mentally ill that he needs to be hospitalized.

Bevan told the court and the victims about his love for Evans and his puzzlement over why he killed her.

"I used to pray Tina and I would be together forever," Bevan said in a flat, expressionless voice. "I can't understand myself what happened that night. I am truly sorry for all I have done.

"I am sorry."

http://deseretnews.com/dn