BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - A Chico man was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his mother on Wednesday, according to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. 

Alton Facciuto, 32, was in court on Wednesday and was sentenced for the January 2018 murder of his mother, Sherry Facciuto, 60. 

On January 18, 2018, Ramsey said that Sherry Facciuto was outside of her home, preparing the car to go into town with her husband. Her husband heard the car start up and leave without him. He later reported his wife missing after not hearing from her. 

Sheriff's deputies responded to their home and found Sherry's body in an outbuilding. 

Later that evening, deputies also responded to reports of a car that crashed into a fence behind a business on Martin Luther King Parkway in Chico. Alton was reportedly seen running from the area shortly after the crash. 

Ramsey said Alton was staying on his parents' property after his release from prison in 2017 on a robbery charge. 

Alton was arrested for parole violation, however, he had several scratches on his face at the time of the arrest. 

Investigators conducted an autopsy and found that Sherry's cause of death was ruled as asphyxia by strangulation. DNA evidence collected from under Sherry's fingernails matched to the scratches on Alton's face. 

Ramsey said a second-degree murder conviction normally carries a term of 15 years, however, because of Alton's previous robbery conviction, the sentence was doubled to 30 years to life.