Homeless man gets 17 years for strangling woman

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A homeless man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing a 29-year-old homeless woman and mother of two.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that 58-year-old Terry Hickman was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter and attempted second-degree assault last month.

Hickman told a friend that he had killed Dallas Boyd in his van and the friend flagged down police.

Police found Boyd’s decomposing body in an RV parked in a Portland tow yard in July, days after she’d been killed.

Boyd’s relatives say she struggled with schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder and used drugs to quiet the voices in her head.

Hickman told his friend he strangled Boyd when he awoke after using drugs and found her stealing his things.

Hickman declined to say anything in court.