Life in prison for man who killed Hollywood girl in 1999

A babysitter’s boyfriend has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 death of a 4-year-old girl from Hollywood who went missing while in Punta Gorda.

Keith Allen Wilson, 46, was sentenced Monday, according to the Charlotte County State Attorney’s Office.

In October, after an eight-day jury trial, Wilson was convicted of seconddegree murder in the death of Pilar Rodriguez.

The saga began to unfold in February of 1999 when babysitter Melissa HardingJones took Pilar to Punta Gorda for a two-week stay. When they didn’t return, Pilar’s father reported his child missing.

Harding-Jones told police her boyfriend, Wilson, beat Pilar to death and got rid of the body. But there was no proof and no body, and the case went cold for years.

In 2009, 10 years after Pilar disappeared, a relative of Wilson’s came forward with information that helped lead to Wilson’s arrest, according to the arrest report released in 2013. His stepfather told investigators that he saw a rolled-up pink blanket in the trunk of Wilson's car with a child's foot, the skin turned purple, sticking out.

Wilson was arrested July 16, 2013, after HardingJones pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

She faces up to 30 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 18.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.