PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A judge imposed a 28-year sentence on a Portland man who described the longtime girlfriend he killed as “my best friend, the love of my life, the girl of my dreams.”

Gregory Vance, who’s 62, pleaded guilty in November to murdering Patricia Grassi, who was 59 at the time of her death.

Both the defense and prosecution described the relationship between Vance and Grassi as volatile and toxic.

An autopsy showed Grassi was strangled to death.

Vance has been held without bail since his arrest on March 17, 2019, the day Grassi’s body was found.