After being on the run for almost a quarter of a century, a Bangladeshi national accused of killing a romantic rival in Indiana has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Mahfuz Huq, 47, had managed to dodge the police for two decades by hiding in his native Bangladesh, reports Daily Mail Online.
While Steuben County Superior Court Judge William Fee handed down the maximum sentence under a plea agreement, Huq expressed remorse and cried before the packed courtroom.
During the court hearing of the trial on Monday, two very different sides of Huq came to light. In Bangladesh, he had been a dedicated middle school math teacher at the International School of Dhaka.
In November last year, Huq a naturalised US citizen, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the August 9, 1989, fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Todd Kelley at the victim's home in Hamilton, about 30 miles north of Fort Wayne.
Todd Kelly was seen as his 'romantic rival' in the murder that took place almost 25 years ago.
After the murder, Huq left the US and lived in Bangladesh, where authorities were unable to reach him due to extradition laws.
He was arrested in India in February 2011 when he arrived in New Delhi to take part in a table tennis training camp and was returned to Indiana last July after fighting extradition.
In exchange for Huq's guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed charges of murder and intimidation as well as a six-count burglary case.
Kelley's girlfriend Christine Mutzfeld, who had been in a previous relationship with Huq found the dead body. Court documents said cigarette butts at the murder scene indicated Huq waited for Kelley outside Kelley's home.
Two weeks after the slaying, Huq, who was 22 at the time, was charged with murder. At the time, Huq was already accused of threatening to kill anyone who dated his former girlfriend.
During the sentencing friends and co-workers flew in from as far as Africa and China to testify about his care for the students, his charitable work in an orphanage, and his enthusiasm in coaching high school tennis.
Huq, known to them as Asif Haque, was traveling to India with the tennis team in 2011 when authorities arrested him at a New Delhi airport.