SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A judge ruled Wednesday that a soldier’s remains would be sent to his father for burial in Oklahoma, ending a bitter custody battle between divorced parents over the last resting place for a son killed in Iraq.

Army Staff Sgt. Jason Hendrix, 28, grew up with his mother in central California but finished his last two years of high school while living with his father in Oklahoma.

After Hendrix was killed by a roadside bomb Feb. 16 near Ramadi, the Army sent his body to Watsonville, where he was born and where his mother, Renee Amick, and stepfather live.

The next day, Hendrix’s father, Russell Hendrix, who divorced Amick 14 years ago, appealed and asked to have the body shipped to Claremore, Okla., so his son could be buried next to his grandfather, a former Marine.

Based on a little-known policy that often grants the remains of military personnel to the eldest surviving parent, the Defense Department then reversed its decision. Amick, 45, filed a temporary restraining order to keep the body in California.

On Wednesday, however, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Robert Yonts dissolved the restraining order and granted custody of the remains to the 48-year-old Russell Hendrix. The judge said he “respected” the Army’s decision and would abide by the military’s next-of-kin policy.

The mother’s attorney, Mike Barsi, said she would not appeal.

“My client is deeply disappointed by the court’s ruling,” Barsi said. “But in some ways she’s relieved that her son can now be laid to rest, and she’s comforted by the thought he’s now in God’s hands.”

Sharon Cole Jones, who represented Russell Hendrix, said the ruling preserves what the father believes were his son’s wishes.

“There’s no hard feelings. My client understands and respects the emotions that a grieving mother would have,” Jones said. “The main thrust was to be true to Jason and to be true to what we believe he wanted – to be at home and next to his grandfather.”