BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A Texas woman who suffocated her 6-year-old son in a New Hampshire motel room and left his body along a dirt road in Maine has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Forty-two-year-old Julianne McCrery of Irving, Texas, spoke tearfully at her sentencing today, calling her son beautiful and brilliant. She said he did not deserve what she had done to him.

McCrery pleaded guilty in November to kneeling atop 6- year-old Camden Hughes as he laid face- down on their motel room floor. She told investigators she covered his mouth with her hand as he struggled to survive.

The discovery of Camden’s body last May set off a nationwide effort to identify him.

McCrery’s family members attended the sentencing.

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