(NewsNation) — A Washington state man was found guilty of raping and murdering his estranged wife, Jamie Wilson-Spray, while she was on the phone with a job interviewer, and just two days later, her parents exclusively shared her story on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
Within hours on Thursday, a jury in Pullman, Washington, convicted Spray, 37, of first-degree murder and first-degree rape of his wife Jamie, 25.
He faces 20 to 26 years in prison, but his victim’s parents want a longer sentence.
“It seems like the fair thing would have been for him to get what he took away from her, which would have been, you know, 70, 75 years,” stepmother Heather Wilson said. “That seems fair, but, you know, that’s not the way it is.”
Spray’s sentencing hearing will be in March. If he receives the maximum sentence, he will get out at 56.
“He’ll be our age,” father Troy Wilson said.
Spray confessed to his father, who ended up testifying against him at trial.
“It was heartbreaking. It was just awful,” Heather Wilson said.
“But it was the right thing to do,” Troy Wilson said.
The couple described their daughter as “kind and goofy and ambitious and helpful and talented,” Troy Wilson said. “The main thing she was fearless, and she had so much, so much in front of her.”
“The last conversation I had with my daughter, she told me that that the world is my oyster, and she was looking forward to moving to California and experiencing life. And all of that was taken away by Jacob,” he continued.
The family is in the process of setting up a tribute in Jamie’s honor and a scholarship fund in her name to help a student attend the same culinary school she did.