A Cedar Bluff man was sentenced to life in prison without parole last week for the murder and robbery of a local business owner in December 1999. After a jury found the defendant guilty, Cherokee County Circuit Court Judge Randall Cole sentenced Dion Conkle to life in the state penitentiary without the possibility of parole and also assessed court costs and other costs to Conkle. Conkle was charged with the shooting death of Betty Wilson, co-owner of Yellow Creek Falls Fish Camp on Highway 273.

It was an unusual case, as lawyers on both sides agreed, as Conkle, before the case began, entered a plea of guilty to the capital charge of intentional murder during the course of robbery in the first degree. Even with the plea, however, state law requires that the state present its case to a jury which must deliberate for a verdict. No defense cross-examination or testimony is required however.

The jury in this one-day trial, consisting of eight men and four women, spent less than half an hour in deliberations before returning with a guilty verdict.

According to reports, Mrs. Wilson was fatally shot around 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999. Two men, with their faces covered in dark hoods, entered the fish camp and Conkle shot Wilson as she was talking on the phone. According to Cherokee County Sheriff Roy Wynn, the person to whom Wilson was talking at the time of the shooting told her something like, "Here they come with hoods." Sheriff Wynn said the woman, who was not identified, then heard gunshots and immediately called 911, which notified authorities.

The suspects fled, reports said, and police began a search. Sheriff Wynn said that possibly the suspects could have been at the fish camp earlier in the day, but that he didn't believe Mrs. Wilson knew their identities.

Conkle and Wells were apprehended in the Unity Community about four hours later. Police said the truck in which they were riding, a maroon truck with gray stripe, late model Toyota four-wheeler, had a 9-millimeter stainless steel hand gun on the seat along with some change. On the floor of the hunting knife, they found a hunting knife in its case