PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Spencer Thomas Johnson was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday for the killing of a his girlfriend, Cory Lumber.
The sentence, announced by Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, brings finality to a case that began two-and-a-half years ago.
On July 2, 2016, Johnson woke up at his Southeast Portland apartment around 6:30 a.m., then left and called his parents and said his live-in girlfriend was dead.
Eleven minutes after that call ended, Johnson went back to his place at the Misty Firs Apartments and called 911. Police arrived around 7 a.m. and found Lumber dead from a single gunshot.
She was 48.
Johnson, who had been living with Lumber for about a month, was arrested at the scene and charged with murder.
Late the night before, the Multnomah County DA’s Office said, the couple got into an argument and witnesses heard the sounds of a fight and sounds they thought were fireworks. But it was the gunfire.
With a search warrant secured, investigators went inside the apartment and found 6 guns, including the .40 caliber handgun he used to kill her.
On Jan. 9, 39-year-old Johnson pleaded guilty to 1st-degree manslaughter.