Former NFL tight end Kevin Ware Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week, after pleading guilty to the 2021 murder of his girlfriend, Taylor Pomaski, in Spring, Texas.

The plea deal, finalized just days before jury selection for his trial, also included a guilty plea for tampering with evidence, specifically Pomaski’s body. The case, marked by its brutal details and Ware’s athletic past, has drawn significant attention in Houston.

Pomaski, 29, was last seen alive on April 25, 2021, at a party at her home in the Houston suburb of Spring.

Witnesses described a violent confrontation between her and Ware, who she had been dating for about a year. “She was in danger, and she was in trouble,” Eric Zuleger, a friend and former boyfriend of Pomaski, told KTRK-TV in 2021.

“There was violence, she referenced a gun being pulled on her. She was very scared, very nervous.”

Her body was found in a ditch in north Harris County in December 2021 and identified in April 2022.

Court documents laid bare the crime’s severity. Prosecutors said Ware killed Pomaski by “cutting her with a knife, hitting her with a blunt object, strangling her and then burning her corpse,” according to local news reports.

A woman told investigators Ware admitted to cutting Pomaski’s throat and burning her body, even photographing the fire, per court records.

“We appreciate everyone who has come forward to provide evidence and aid in our investigation,” Harris County prosecutor Lacy Johnson said in a 2022 statement.

“The court process is just beginning, and we encourage anyone who has knowledge about what happened between Kevin and Taylor to come forward.”

Ware, 44, faced life without parole if convicted at trial. Instead, he took the plea deal, which Judge Brian Warren called a final offer.

“I’m going to play football with you right now,” Warren told Ware, stressing the deal would expire if the trial proceeded.

The 30-year sentence for murder runs concurrently with a 15-year sentence Ware received in 2022 for unrelated drug and weapons charges.

Pomaski’s family welcomed the conviction but remains devastated. Her mother, Leslie Mandeville, told Inside Edition in 2021 that her daughter’s failure to call on Mother’s Day, which fell on her father’s birthday, was alarming.

“She never missed that type of stuff. Never,” Mandeville said. Friends like Zuleger highlighted Pomaski’s struggle to leave an abusive relationship.

“Taylor reached out to me many times throughout the month of April,” he told KHOU-TV.

“We were talking about her getting out of there, getting back on her feet, getting herself set and stabilized.”

Ware’s brief NFL career included 16 games with the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers in 2003 and 2004.

A Klein Oak High School and University of Washington standout, his life after football spiraled into crime, including a 2018 conviction for intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance.

Arrested on drug and weapons charges days before Pomaski vanished, Ware violated bond and remained in custody as the murder case developed.

The sentencing, which was recorded on May 9, allows Pomaski’s loved ones to deliver victim impact statements. The conviction delivers some justice for Pomaski’s family, who hope her story inspires others to seek help and escape abusive relationships.