Man sentenced to life for 1988 Boston murder

A Suffolk Superior Court Judge levied the state’s harshest penalty against a 61-year-old sex offender convicted for a 1988 murder.

Richard Vega was given life with no parole for the rape and murder of Judy Chamberlain.

The victim’s body was found stuffed inside a sump pump in the basement of a Boston apartment building.

“I feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” said Jill Burr, Judy’s sister.

It has been a long road to justice for Judy’s family.

In 1988, a maintenance worker found Judy’s body.

Judy was strangled from behind, and sexually assaulted.

“She was literally thrown in a sewer with garbage. That is how this defendant treated her, after he strangled her to death, in what the court now knows from testimony, was a violent struggle,” Suffolk County ADA John Verner told the court.

Richard Vega is a convicted sex offender, sentenced for raping a 72-year-old woman in another case.

Authorities say his DNA matched DNA found on Judy’s body.

In their investigation, Boston Police were able to further tie Vega to Judy Chamberlain’s 1988 murder

For Judy’s family, Vega’s conviction and now his life no parole sentence is a major relief.

“He threw her in the trash, a well with trash, that tell you, he has no sympathy, no empathy, he had nothing to show, he just plain up evil,” Jill Burr said.

“How fortunate that we get this kind of closure. Some families don’t ever get it,” added Judy’s brother, Jon Olson.

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