Killer Sentenced To Death In Murder Of 10-Year-Old

A twice-convicted child killer was sentenced to death Friday for the kidnapping and murder of a 10-year-old Walla Walla, Wash., boy last summer.

Jurors deliberated for almost four hours, and asked to see photographs of the crime scene before deciding against a sentence of life without parole for 28-year-old Timothy Buss in the killing of Christopher Meyer.

“It will not bring Chris back,” his mother, Mika Moulton, said after the verdict. “But it will give him some peace.”

Public defender Ed Jaquays said an appeal will be filed.

Christopher disappeared Aug. 7, 1995 while visiting his mother. His stabbed and sexually mutilated body was found in a shallow grave eight days later.

In 1981, Buss, then 13, was convicted of killing 5-year-old Tara Sue Huffman. He served half of a 25-year sentence and was paroled in 1993.

Christopher’s murder prompted passage of a state law requiring authorities to notify residents when someone who has sexually abused or murdered a child moves to their community.