Man sentenced to prison nearly 30 years after Los Angeles student's brutal murder

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Almost 30 years ago, a student's body was found so badly burned, they identified her through dental records. On Monday, her killer was sentenced to prison.

At the time of her brutal murder Jill Sampson was just 22 years old. Twenty-six years later, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Roger Allen found her killer.

"I identified with her, I identified with the family, and I took it personally," Allen said.

Allen said new advancements in DNA technology let them test old evidence. It led them to Ajheeb Boyd, a man already in prison for robbery. "His information was in a state database and that's how we were able to identify the code as him," Allen said.

Detectives still don't know why Sampson was chosen to be brutally murdered, but they believe sexual assault was the motive. They believe Boyd met her as she was taking a detour off the 110 Freeway. At the time, in 1991, it was under construction to make room for HOV lanes.

"That information proved that Ajheeb Boyd in fact raped her, assaulted her and subsequently suffocated her. And then he lit her on fire to destroy the evidence," said Allen.

Sampson was a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. When she was murdered, she'd been living in L.A. for less than a month.

After a jury found Boyd guilty of the murder, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.