HARTFORD — A 23-year-old Connecticut man has been convicted of raping and fatally beating a Manchester woman before setting her body on fire in a January 2014 attack.
A Superior Court jury on Tuesday returned guilty verdicts on all six counts against Steven Durdek in connection with the death of 56-year-old Sarah Kelloway.
Durdek faces a maximum sentence of 130 years in prison after being convicted of murder, felony murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree arson and tampering with evidence.
Police say Durdek did not know Kelloway before the attack.
Prosecutor David Zagaja says DNA evidence collected from Kelloway’s charred body and a doorknob on her Park Street apartment placed Durdek and no one else at the crime scene.
Durdek is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 6.
