AUBURN — An Edgecomb man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday after admitting to the 2024 murder of a Virginia man in Turner.

Luke Krott, 27, was sentenced for the killing of 34-year-old William “Nate” Robinson, whose body was found stuffed in a barrel in Edgecomb in December 2024.

He had been shot to death, according to court records.

Police say the killing took place in Turner shortly before Robinson’s body was discovered by fishermen at Schmid Preserve in Edgecomb.

Krott had previously denied the charge of murder. He changed his plea Tuesday in Androscoggin County Superior Court and was promptly sentenced.

Krott had been identified as a suspect in the killing early in the Maine State Police investigation.

On Dec. 12, just days after Robinison’s body was found, investigators executed a search warrant at 57 Conant Road in Turner. That area is the site of an industrial building described in real estate listings at the time as a medical marijuana cultivation facility.

When police first started investigating the case, Krott became a suspect but could not be located. He had been staying with his parents in Edgecomb, police said, but it wasn’t until January that he was tracked to San Diego.

Krott was arrested on a charge of being a fugitive from justice after he was tracked to a sailboat in a San Diego marina and captured by the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI.

He was returned to Maine soon after and was officially charged with murder. He has since remained at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Krott will spend 30 years in a state prison to be followed by four years of probation.