WAYNE COUNTY — A 27-year-old former Fairfield man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for strangling his then-high school girlfriend to death nearly 10 years ago.

Last November a Wayne County jury found Brodey Murbarger responsible for strangling or smothering Megan Nichols to death.

Megan was last seen alive on July 3, 2014, at her Fairfield home. She was considered a missing person until December 2018, when a farmer found her remains in a Boyleston farm field.

Murbarger was arrested two years later and charged in connection with Megan’s death. She was 15 years old at the time of her disappearance and Murbarger was 18.

Prior to the jury trial, prosecutors opted to not pursue the concealment of a homicide and to try the home invasion charges separately.

Murbarger was seeking a new trial in the case and had filed a motion for acquittal. Judge Michael Molt on Friday denied that motion and scheduled a January 25 sentencing in the case.