A Port Jefferson Station man was sentenced to the maximum 25 years to life in prison for stabbing a Medford woman to death before mutilating and setting her body on fire in December 2009.

Evans Ganthier, 33, was found guilty of second-degree murder last month in the death of 24-year-old Becky Koster.

Prosecutors say he cut off Koster's fingers and toes, then set her body on fire near Foxwoods in Connecticut in an effort to hide her identity.

Ganthier claimed that he panicked after Koster tripped on a dumbbell and fell to her death in his garage.

He told the court before his sentencing that he plans to appeal the court's ruling.

Koster's relatives say that they're thankful Ganthier got the maximum sentence, even though it won't bring her back. "It's bittersweet because the only thing that's going to bring us peace is to know that he'll never walk on this earth again," says Barbara Ross, Koster's mother.