Eric Blackwell A 25-year-old Gaffney man was sentenced to life in prison for the fatal stabbing of Chris Riddle.

Circuit Court Judge J. Derham Cole handed down the sentence Monday against Eric Blackwell.

Cole withheld the sentencing of Blackwell until after the disposition of the cases against two codefendants, Jessica Blanton and Teresa A. Humphries. Blackwell pleaded guilty to murder in May.

Blanton, Blackwell’s 23-year-old girlfriend, was found guilty of accessory after the fact of murder in October 2005, and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Humphries, 41, Blackwell’s mother, was sentenced to eight years in prison suspended to four years and two years probation for accessory after the fact of a murder. She pleaded guilty in December 2004.

Riddle was stabbed 167 times. His body was discovered Nov. 23, 2003, covered in leaves and branches in a wooded area off a dead-end road near Highway 18 and Interstate 85.

Blackwell said he stabbed Riddle in the neck because Riddle began choking him and struck Blanton on the back of the head after the three began arguing about money. He testified he stabbed Riddle three more times because Riddle kept lunging at him.

Blackwell said he left Riddle with Blanton at Limestone Court Apartments and returned later to find Riddle lying on the floor covered in blood.