FINAL SUSPECT IN EMILY HACKER MURDER CASE SENTENCED TO PROBATION

  

The fifth and final suspect in the 2017 murder of a Rockdale woman has been sentenced to probation.

31-year-old Kevin Cormier of Caldwell was sentenced Thursday to 10 years’ probation, after pleading guilty to Tampering or Fabricating Physical Evidence with Intent to Impair. Cormier, according to authorities, helped move the body of 34-year-old Emily Hacker after she was killed by four other suspects.

During Cormier’s testimony, he said he was not aware he was helping dispose of a body during the incident, as he was merely asked to pick up an acquaintance. He added that his guilty plea was not because he knew he was helping hide the body, but rather because his truck was being used.

Four other suspects in Hacker’s murder were sentenced last year. Two of those suspects, 32-year-old Candice Nicole Jones of Rockdale and 32-year-old Edward Brannon Barry of Caldwell, were each sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to first degree felony murder.  The two waived their right to appeal as per the plea agreement.

Two others, 24-year-old Ashley Yvonne Wesson-Zawadzke and 37-year-old John Wayne Stewart, both of Somerville, were also sentenced in the case. Stewart was given 18 years in prison, while Wesson-Zawadzke was given 15 years.  Both cooperated in the investigation and plead guilty to lesser charges, in exchange for a capped sentence.  All four suspects will be eligible for, but not entitled to, parole after completing half their sentences.

Hacker’s body was found burned and buried in a shallow grave near Lyons in rural Burleson County, over a week after she was reported missing in January 2017. According to arrest affidavits, the likely motive for the killing was revenge, for Jones being implicated by Hacker on a gun possession charge.  Autopsy results show Hacker died from blunt force trauma.