INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A teenager convicted of killing his best friend's mother was officially sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday.

In May, a jury convicted Eddie George, 18, Grain Valley, of first-degree murder.

George was accused of stabbing Pamela Marquez to death in her Grain Valley home in July 2006.

Her son, Taylor Marquez, also was charged in connection with her death. Taylor Marquez's trial is scheduled to begin in August.

During George's trial, Pamela Marquez's husband, Joe Marquez, testified that George stabbed him as he was sitting on a couch, then George and Taylor Marquez disappeared.

Joe Marquez walked upstairs and found his wife, he said.

"I walk in my bedroom, and I look to my right, and I see my wife lying on her back," Joe Marquez said. "She has her eyes half open. Her arms are to her side. I run over to her, and she's wearing blue pajama pants and a light blue shirt and I see it's soaked in blood."

Also during the trial, jurors heard Joe Marquez's 911 tape, and George briefly took the stand only to say he didn't have anything to say.

After his sentencing Friday, George's attorney, John Picerno, said, "he did tell the judge he's prepared to pay the price for what he did."