A Huntsville man who bludgeoned his girlfriend to death in Limestone County in 2015 will serve the rest of his life in prison.

Christopher Thomas Copeland, 37, pleaded guilty last week to murdering 37-year-old Tonya Carroll at their home at 28025 Copeland Road on July 19, 2015, an official said.

Limestone County Circuit Judge Chadwick Wise sentenced Copeland to serve life in prison in accordance with the plea agreement.

The state’s court records database does not yet reflect information about the agreement but a court official has confirmed it.

The murder

Deputies were called to the home after a cousin of the victim told police she’d received a call from Carroll asking for help. The call came in around 5:45 a.m., but Carroll’s cousin didn’t hear the message until 8:45 a.m. and then telephoned police. Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely later told reporters a man he believed to be Copeland could be heard screaming in the background of the call, threatening to kill Carroll.

By the time law enforcement arrived, Carroll was lying dead on the bathroom floor. Blakely said a fire extinguisher found inside the home might have been used to strike Carroll in the head.

In his report, Deputy Jonathan Hardiman said that Copeland met him at the door of the home and said Carroll was unresponsive after taking too many pills. Copeland told the deputy Carroll tripped and hit her head on a coffee table. When Hardiman asked Copeland for help rolling Carroll’s body over to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Copeland argued that doing so would kill her.

Hardiman and firefighters performed CPR anyway, but Carroll was declared dead after EMS officials arrived at the scene. Blunt-force trauma was determined to be the cause of death.

Copeland was arrested, booked and later released from Limestone County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

Copeland had a history of violent offenses before the alleged murder. He was charged with stabbing a man in 2010 and another person in 2012. He had just been released from a three-year prison stay on an assault conviction when the murder occurred.

Blakely said his department had a history of domestic violence calls involving Copeland and Carroll and was told by Carroll’s relatives she ran away after allegedly being beaten by Copeland only two weeks before her death.