Woman sentenced in 30-year-old Ala. murder

Published 2:51 am Sunday, June 20, 2010

A 49-year-old woman convicted of murder in the shooting death of a fellow student at the University of South Alabama in 1980 has been sentenced to life in prison.

A jury convicted Jamie Kellam Letson for luring 18-year-old Katherine Foster into the woods in 1980 and shooting her in the head.

Prosecutors said Letson was obsessed with Foster’s boyfriend, whom Letson had met in high school in Pascagoula, Miss., and that jealousy drove her to kill Foster with a pistol she stole from her grandmother.

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Foster’s body was found in woods near her campus dormitory.

Evidence at trial showed Letson confessed the crime to a member of her Alcoholics Anonymous group eight years ago.