HEMPHILL, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – A Sabine County District Judge has formally sentenced convicted killer Matthew Hoy Edgar to 99 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a Zwolle woman.
Edgar was out on bond when he did not return to the courtroom on the third day of his trial on January 28, 2022, and went on the run. The trial went on without him. He was found guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Livye Lewis, who was found on Oct. 31, 2020, by deputies responding to what was reported as a traffic accident east of Hemphill.
Edgar remained on the run for nearly 11 months and was placed on the Texas 10 Most Wanted list in October as the search stretched into its ninth month. He was captured on Dec. 29, 2022, by U.S. Marshals in Sabine County.
While Edgar was sentenced in absentia immediately following his conviction, he has formally sentenced Tuesday, and Lewis’s family gave victim statements.
Following Tuesday’s sentencing, Edgar was handed over to the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and will be sent to Huntsville for processing into the state prison system.
