Calling Kenneth Otto Sr. a cold-blooded killer, a Superior Court judge effectively sentenced him to life in prison Tuesday for killing Shamaia Smith, an exotic dancer, then trying to cover up his crime by burning her body.

Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Keefe Jr. sentenced Otto, a 58-year-old businessman from Ellington, to 60 years in prison.

"It's life," a happy Gloria Frink, Smith's mother, said outside the Hartford courtroom. "That's what we were looking for."

A 12-member jury convicted Otto of murder Dec. 9 after a three-week trial. It also found him guilty of evidence tampering, charges connected to the burning of Smith's body and a camper trailer as police investigated her disappearance.

O'Keefe sentenced Otto to 60 years for murder and two counts of tampering with evidence.

Otto was the last person seen with Smith on March 14, 2007. That night, she failed to show up for work at Kahoot's, a strip club in Vernon. Investigators found her charred remains in a fire pit on Otto's 75-acre tract in Stafford in April. Otto was arrested at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks on May 15, 2007, carrying his passport and more than $10,000 in U.S. and Canadian currency.

Smith's body was so badly burned, only small pieces were recovered. Her remains were identified through DNA.

Though the state medical examiner couldn't determine exactly how Smith died, investigators found bullet casings in the pit and linked them to a gun Otto owned.

That was the gun that most likely killed Smith, prosecutor David Zagaja told the court.

While investigators believe Smith was shot, they don't know why Otto killed her, Zagaja said. "That is a great void that the family is left with."

Zagaja said Otto has received three disciplinary "tickets" in jail for possession of contraband, including a key to handcuffs.

Like Zagaja, the judge wondered out loud why Otto, who had no criminal record, killed Smith. Otto had a family, a good job and a "considerable amount of money," O'Keefe said.

"He should have been a happy guy, but I guess he wasn't. … At the end of the day, he was a cold-blooded killer."

Otto, dressed in a bright orange prison jump suit, showed little reaction to the judge's words. He politely declined to make a statement. His lawyers say he will appeal.

Three of Smith's family members spoke: Gloria Frink; Ethel Smith, her grandmother; and Monique Frink, Smith's sister.

Ethel Frink said she prays that Otto will repent and ask God for forgiveness. Monique talked about the pain her family has been enduring since Smith's disappearance.

"We hurt," Monique Frink said. "We don't know how to get past this because we don't know why it happened. … It's always going to be a question: Why? What were her last words?"

Shamaia L Smith