A decades-long saga, which began in 1995 with a man fatally shooting his wife and teenage daughter, dumping their bodies in two different states and starting a new life in the midwest, ended Wednesday when he was sentenced in a Connecticut courtroom for his daughter's murder.

Robert Honsch, 78, already serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for killing his wife, Marcia, was sentenced to the maximum 60 years for what State Superior Court Judge Laura Baldini called the "cruel, inhumane and unconscionable" murder of 16-year-old Elizabeth.

Robert Honsch, then 70, was living in Dalton, Ohio, as Robert Tyree when he was arrested in 2014 for the 1995 murders of his wife Marcia and teenage daughter Elizabeth. Marcia was dumped in Massachussetts and Elizabeth in New Britain, Conn. and Honsch was convicted of murder in trials in those two states in 2017 and 2022, respectively. .

Baldini cited the heinous nature of the crime, but also found disturbing Honsch's efforts to cover it up and mislead the victims' relatives in a bid for "absolution of responsibility for committing a horrific crime.

"He has shown no remorse for his actions," Baldini said. "These calculated, deliberate actions are reflective of a heartless individual without care for others or the laws of society."

One of Elizabeth's half-sisters, Diana Mirabel, was watching a livestream from her home out of state and clapped and wiped away tears when Baldini finished imposing the sentence.

"This is a long time coming, 27 years," Mirabel, 57, told the judge moments earlier, adding she hoped Honsch would one day "find it in his heart" to explain why he did what he did to her mom and baby sister. "This was a lifelong nightmare for myself and my family... Justice is served for Elizabeth and may she rest in peace."

Honsch killed Elizabeth and Marcia in late September 1995, each shot in the head. Honsch dumped his daughter’s body, wrapped in garbage bags and two sleeping bags, behind a liquor store in a New Britain, Connecticut strip mall, where it was found early on Sept. 28 by two police officers. Marcia’s body was found about 40 miles away at Tolland State Forest in western Massachusetts eight days later.

Honsch was not arrested until 2014, the year the bodies were identified. He was convicted in Marcia’s killing in Massachusetts in 2017 and in Elizabeth’s killing four months ago in New Britain state Superior Court.

Marcia had Mirabel and three other daughters from a previous marriage when she met Honsch in the Bronx. They married in 1977 and Elizabeth was born two years later. All five of the girls lived with them initially but it was only Robert, Marcia and Elizabeth together when the couple separated in 1988. Marcia and Elizabeth moved to Cold Spring, although Elizabeth would frequently stay with Honsch in Brewster, New York, and she attended Brewster High School as a freshman and for most of her sophomore year.

The couple reunited in 1995 several months before the killings and Marcia and Elizabeth moved back in with Honsch on Main Street.

Honsch, who was a vacuum salesman, fled to South Africa in October 1995 after telling his wife’s daughters he had gotten a job transfer and Marcia and Elizabeth left ahead of him to Australia.

But at his trial in 2017, according to MassLive.com, one of them, Debra Estrada, testified it was always odd to her Honsch sent them there even though he said he had been given the choice of working in several countries but hadn’t picked one yet.

Detectives in both states joined forces after the bodies were discovered but they were unable to identify the bodies. It wasn’t even until DNA testing in 2010 that they knew for certain the two women were mother and daughter.

New York State police were brought into the case in 2009 based on a tax stamp on cigarettes and clothes that appeared to have come from the Albany area. But there still were no missing person reports for the two.

By then, Honsch was living as Robert Tyree in Ohio, where he had married a woman and had three children with her. 

Relatives insisted they had reported Marcia and Elizabeth missing over the years, including to authorities in Putnam County. But there were no official reports disseminated and investigators did not make the link to the women until 2014, when a niece of Marcia’s in Virginia contacted New York State police.

By that time, at least one of Marcia Honsch’s daughters, Mirabel, had been in touch with his new wife, Sheryl Tyree, for several years because Sheryl Tyree had reached out to Honsch’s family in New York to find out about his past.

In 2013, Mirabel confronted Honsch in a phone call and he told her Marcia had run off with another man in Australia and Elizabeth likely went with her, Mirabel testified in 2017, according to MassLive.com. When she told him she didn’t believe him , he said he must have heard that from someone else because he didn’t remember.

Marcia Honsch , 53, of Putnam County, in July 1995,  two months before she was murdered by her husband Robert and dumped in Tolland State Forest in Massachussetts. Robert Honsch was convicted in her murder in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. He also killed their teenage daughter Elizabeth in September 1995 and was convicted of murder for that killing in Connecticut in March 2022.

The call to New York police led to a DNA match identifying both women. Investigators interviewed Honsch in Ohio and took hair samples that were eventually matched to evidence found with Elizabeth’s body. He told them he couldn’t remember much from 1995. He recognized the sleeping bag but could not offer anything about how Elizabeth ended up in it. He then asked for a lawyer and was arrested.

While the circumstances that led to the killing may never be known, Baldini said, "it is likely that Elizabeth experienced immediate and significant terror when faced with her father choosing to end her life."

State's Attorney Christian Watson called Elizabeth "vibrant, intelligent, outgoing and wonderful" and assailed Honsch for not only the killing but for going "about his life as if Elizabeth's life didn't matter and didn't exist."

Just like he did when sentenced in Massachussetts, Honsch declined to say anything when Baldini gave him the opportunity. He also chose not to participate in the court's presentence investigation so Baldini had limited mitigating information.

His lawyer, Justin Smith, said Honsch was advised not to speak because he maintains his innocence and is planning to appeal. Smith asked for the minimum 25-year term, saying that would effectively be a life sentence for Honsch, who, besides his age, has health problems related to a stroke he suffered while in custody awaiting trial.

Honsch will serve his Massachussetts sentence first and members of the New Britain Police Department were expected to transport him to a prison there following the sentencing.