An Ohio man who pleaded guilty to breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and stabbing her more than 30 times was sentenced this week to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 31 years.

Chance Donohoe, 27, got a break from Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Kim Brown, who could have sentenced him to life without parole, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

Donohoe pleaded builty to aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse in July, prosecutors said. He had stabbed Shannon Hiott, 29, in her home and then fled to his mother’s house, 20 miles away, where he called police and confessed, police said.

Police found Hiott, stabbed dozens of times, the Dispatch reported. Prosecutors said in court on Thursday that Donohoe screwed her front door shut after murdering her and abusing her body.

Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Lenert said that Donohoe saw a car belonging to another man outside her home, apparently while stalking her, and drove to his mother’s home, changed into all black clothing, grabbed a knife, and drove back to Hiott’s home.

“I can only imagine what was going through Shannon’s mind as he busts in her door and starts stabbing her. He told the police he slit her throat to speed up the process,” Lenert said. “This was not drugs, this is not ketamine, this is not methamphetamine, this is not cocaine, this is someone that’s angry. He’s pissed off about posts being made about him on social media. He’s upset about their breakup and he goes to her house that night and sees a vehicle from another man that he knows that he recognizes.”

Hiott’s family said the two dated for about 18 months before Hiott broke it off, blocked his phone number, and deleted him from her social media accounts. She also changed the locks on her doors and installed security cameras.

The family said in court they learned about Hiott’s death when they saw her home on television news.

“How scared she must have been. You are a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier,” Hiott’s mother, Jamie Hiott, said. “You had all that time to change your mind, but you’re a monster.”

Donohoe’s attorney pleaded hardship, saying he’d been in counseling since he was 5 and had addiction issues. On the night he brutally killed Hiott, he used marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and alcohol.

His mother, in a letter to the court, said her son’s rampage was out of character and that “being unmedicated, mental health issues, drug use, a toxic relationship and a feeling of desperation and despair” may have caused his murderous actions.

“What he did was beyond terrible, and he must pay a consequence for his actions,” she wrote. “For a long time, I have been worried that Chance would hurt himself, but I was never afraid that he may hurt someone else.”

While Brown granted to defense’s request for the possibility of parole, she called the murder “a heinous one.””What you did to Shannon is unspeakable,” Brown said.

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[Featured image: Chance Donohoe/Franklin County and Shannon Hoitt/GoFundMe]