Teen Receives 45-Year Sentence After Admitting to Strangling Ex-Girlfriend on High School Senior Trip in Myrtle Beach
MYRTLE BEACH, SC — An 18-year-old has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his ex-girlfriend during a post-graduation trip. The sentencing, which unfolded in Horry County, closed a chilling chapter on a crime that has gripped the coastal community. Blake William Linkous, who was also 18 at the time of the crime, confessed to the strangulation of Natalie Jane Martin in an incident that tragically undercut their …