TAMPA, Fla. — A man who was on the run from the law for 40 years was sentenced to 50 years in state prison Thursday in a Hillsborough County courtroom.

Donald Santini, 65, confessed in court to the 1984 murder of a 33-year-old Manatee County woman. Santini managed to remain a free man for decades after Cynthia “Cindy” Ruth Wood’s body was found in a Riverview canal in June 1984.

The arrest warrant said a medical examiner determined she had been strangled, and Santini’s fingerprints were found on her body.

Santini admitted to the crime as part of a plea deal. The case was set to go to trial in December. He was arrested in June of this year.

In 1984, Santini was known as Charles Michael Stevens, which was an alias he used to flee a warrant in Texas. At the time of his arrest this year, he was living under the name Wellman Simmonds in Campo, California, which is in southeastern San Diego County. He served on the local water board.

The case has been featured on “America’s Most Wanted” several times.

According to investigators, Wood met with Santini, who had called her with promises of providing information about her husband, Barry Wood, that could possibly help her win custody of their two children, who were 3 and 5. After Wood's murder, Santini disappeared from the Bay area, authorities said.

“You being on the run for almost 40 years is a consciousness of guilt,” Judge Catherine Catlin told Santini at a previous hearing. “You knew you were running from something.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.