Published Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 | 8:51 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 | 2:40 p.m.
A man who pleaded guilty the 1986 killing of a 7-year-old North Las Vegas girl has died while awaiting sentencing.
Defense attorney Joseph Abood said 67-year--old Jasper Goddard died Sunday of apparent natural causes at a Las Vegas hospital on Sunday, a month after pleading guilty in the killing of April Rhodes.
The death was confirmed Wednesday to The Associated Press by Abood and Clark County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Pamela Weckerly.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Kathy Salsbury said she cried partly from a sense of closure when told Monday of the death of her daughter's killer by a retired Reno police detective who worked the case years ago and whom Salsbury credits with solving the crime.
Goddard was to be sentenced to life in prison.
