BURLINGTON, Vt. AP – Berated as “evil” and “the lowest of the low,” a man convicted of killing a college senior after a chance encounter was sentenced Friday to life without parole, despite proclaiming his innocence to the end.

Brian L. Rooney, a 38-year-old construction worker and father of three, fought back tears as he expressed condolences to the mother and father of Michelle Gardner-Quinn but said he wasn’t her killer.