EASTON (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his wife.

Fifty-year-old Kenneth Cernobyl entered the plea Tuesday in the murder of 48-year-old Holly Ann Cernobyl in December in their North Catasauqua home.

Prosecutors in Northampton County said Cernobyl told troopers he “went off the deep end.” Defense attorney Mark Minotti said his client never wavered in his remorse over a “perplexing and puzzling” killing that he cannot explain.

Authorities said the body was discovered at the foot of the basement steps two days after the crime, and the defendant had told the couple’s daughter for two days that her mother was sick.