The man who murdered Michelle Herndon was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday evening in Gainesville. Hours earlier a jury had convicted Oliver Travis O’Quinn, a former nurse at Shands UF, of the 2005 death of Herndon, a 24-year-old Live Oak woman living in Gainesville.

O’Quinn, whom prosecutors said was infatuated with Herndon, injected her with a lethal dose of propofol, a powerful anesthetic. Shands officials testified at trial that O’Quinn had both access to the drug and knowledge of its effects on the nervous system.

Herndon, who had a boyfriend in Miami, did not return O’Quinn’s romantic feelings.

After Herndon’s death, O’Quinn fled to Ireland. He was later arrested in West Africa and extradited to Gainesville.

For Herndon’s family, relief was a long time coming.

“I think her dad (Donald Herndon) summed it up best when he said, ‘He’ll never hurt anyone ever again. He’ll never nearly destroy another family’,” said Michelle’s mother, Belinda Herndon, from her home Monday.