New Jersey Man Gets 22-Year Sentence For Strangling Wife

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New Jersey man who strangled his wife and stuffed her body in a 55-gallon drum has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Hudson County prosecutors said 40-year-old Steven Acuna killed his 32-year-old wife, Randy "Amanda'' Lehrer, after a fight at their Jersey City Heights home in August 2011.

Authorities have said Acuna filled the 55-gallon drum with cement after he put Lehrer's body inside.

Police said Acuna waited three days before reporting his wife missing and told her co-workers she had gone to Canada to visit her ailing mother.

The following month, investigators found the drum in the basement of the Charles Street building where the couple lived.

Acuna pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in October.

The couple had a daughter who is now 3 years old.

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