DIXON, Ill. (AP) — A Rockford man who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the slaying of a woman at a highway rest stop has been sentenced to life in prison.

Lee County Judge Ron Jacobson called 37-year-old Terence Doddy "a very dangerous individual that all of us must be protected from."

Forty-four-year-old Tonya Bargman of Monticello was strangled July 1 as she left a restroom at the Willow Creek rest stop on Interstate 39 near Paw Paw. Doddy was arrested three days later near Beloit, Wisconsin.

Doddy chose not to attend the sentencing hearing Monday. The judge twice asked Doddy's attorney to bring him to court for the hearing, but Doddy resisted.

Doddy is scheduled to be sentenced for another murder June 15 in Winnebago County.

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