MADISON, Wis. — The man who admitted to killing a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student in 2008 was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole.

David Kahl was charged with the first-degree homicide of Brittany Zimmermann in March 2020, about 12 years after the crime. The charge came after Kahl’s DNA matched evidence at the scene.

He pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct. 27, 2022.

Zimmermann was a Marshfield native, who was strangled and stabbed in April 2008 inside her apartment on West Doty Street in Madison.

When questioned about the incident, Kahl had told investigators that he’d been using meth and cocaine. He said he was going door-to-door in the neighborhood, attempting to scam people for drug money.

Kahl said that on that night, he told Zimmermann he needed money to fix a flat tire. Already high, he then got inside her apartment and killed her.

Dane County Circuit Judge Chris Taylor handed down Kahl’s sentence on Friday.