A man will almost assuredly spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting his girlfriend and then leaving her to die in a roadside ditch.

Joshua McGee, 39, received a 65-year prison sentence from the Illinois Department of Corrections for the 2021 murder of his 37-year-old girlfriend, Ashley Tankersley. In August, a Peoria County jury convicted McGee of first-degree murder and for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, as announced by the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office.

McGee’s sentence includes 55 years for the murder conviction, plus an additional 10 years for the weapons charge. He must serve the entirety of the murder sentence, according to Chief Judge Katherine Gorman of the Illinois 10th Judicial Circuit Court.

Authorities reported that on August 22, 2021, shortly before 1 a.m., McGee shot Tankersley and abandoned her to die in a ditch beside the road. Following a 911 call near Philander Chase Lane and U.S. 150 in Brimfield, deputies from the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office arrived to find Tankersley with multiple gunshot wounds. She was declared deceased shortly thereafter.

Law enforcement traced the 911 call back to McGee’s phone, which led them to discover he was at a rest area in Sherman, Illinois, roughly 85 miles to the south.

“Law enforcement officers surrounded McGee’s vehicle, resulting in a standoff that lasted several hours before his capture,” stated the prosecutor’s office.

Inside McGee’s vehicle, law enforcement found “a handgun, two spent shell casings, and items belonging to Tankersley,” per the state’s attorney’s office. “Forensic testing later confirmed that Tankersley’s blood was found on McGee’s shoes, and a firearms expert determined that the shell casings were fired from the gun recovered in McGee’s car.”

Furthermore, cellphone records are said to have placed McGee’s device at the scene of the murder.

The 911 call that brought law enforcement to Tankersley’s body was later played in court during McGee’s trial, per local TV station WEEK. An apparently male voice could be heard telling the operator, “she’s shot. Please help her” before the caller hung up.

Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins reportedly testified in court that when law enforcement traced the call to McGee’s phone, he called the man several times and got an answer around 4 a.m.

They are said to have spoken on and off for about two hours, with McGee asking if “she” was okay and asking what hospital “she” was at. The since-condemned man said he had been intoxicated, and a friend of Tankersley testified she had been drinking with her friend and McGee earlier that night at her house before the couple’s mood changed and they left.

Tankersley was remembered in her obituary as being “well known for her vibrant personality, smile, and making those around her laugh.”