Boyfriend of Franklin County woman sentenced for her murder

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - The boyfriend of a woman police say has been missing for a decade has been sentenced for her murder.

According to Brian Haskins, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Pittsylvania County, Paul Jordan was recently sentenced after being found guilty in a three-day trial of the second-degree murder of Heather Hodges.

Haskins, special prosecutor for the case, confirmed Jordan was sentenced to 40 years on the second-degree murder charge with 10 years suspended. Jordan was also sentenced to five years on a felony charge of concealing a body. He will serve a total of 35 years.

According to Haskins, Hodges’ 13-year-old daughter also testified about the difficulty of growing up without a mother, but that she loves her father.

Jordan, said Haskins, did not admit to the murder and instead said he’d continue searching for the truth.

Hodges has been missing for more than a decade and her body has never been found.

Haskins told WDBJ7 in June that a jailhouse informant testified about a confession Jordan made to him about strangling Hodges.

Haskins explained investigators also found blood in the bedroom of the apartment the pair was renting at the time. He specifically pointed out the doorknob as a key piece of evidence because blood found on it matched Hodge’s blood as well as Jordan’s fingerprint.