More than three decades after her mysterious disappearance and death, June Collard's killer is finally brought to justice in Essex County Court. Our Matt Hunter was in Elizabethtown Thursday and has more on the emotional day in court.

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ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. – Save for the first eight years of her life, Tammy Vanderwerker never got the chance to grow up with a loving mother.

"I'd love to hold her, I'd love to give her a hug,” said Vanderwerker while standing outside of the Essex County Courthouse on Thursday. “I'd love to have her see her grandchildren grow up and be part of their lives. I have a little girl that looks identical to her."

In November 1980, Vanderwerker's father, Thomas Collard, hit and killed his then 30-year-old wife, June Collard, following an argument at his Olmstedville home. He then buried her remains out back, where they sat for three decades until last summer when he finally admit to the crime.

On Thursday in Essex County Court, he was sentenced to eight to 24 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter in February.

"He can't hurt anybody else,” Vanderwerker said. “For anybody else out there, don't give up hope, go with your gut. It's been 30 years. Finally, we can put it to rest."

"There's nothing we can do to bring back June Collard, there's nothing we can do to give Tammy Vanderwerker back her childhood,” said Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague, who prosecuted the case. “But what he can do is give her some closure and some time to heal."

Before the judge issued his sentence, Vanderwerker spoke for approximately five minutes, referring to Collard on a half-dozen occasions as a "monster" who physically and sexually abused her, robbing her and her siblings of their mother and childhood.

"You didn’t want to make any mistakes,” Vanderwerker said, while remembering life in the same house as her now 62-year-old father. “You never knew when the next beating was coming. It was a daily thing, but you just didn't know when."

For law enforcement, Thursday marked the end of a tireless cold case that at times looked like it might never be solved, while Collard spent the past decade living in Alabama.

"Homicide cases or missing person’s cases, we never give up on,” New York State Police Troop B Captain Robert LaFountain said, following the verdict. “We continue working them actively in hopes of bringing justice or a conclusion to the case."

For family, the sentence one more step in bringing closure to a heartbreaking 30 years.

"I don't look at him any different now than I did then,” said Vanderwerker, who has a younger brother and sister. “He's always been a liar, always been mean and rotten and in my eyes that's what he is. Sorry, I have nothing nice to say about the man, I never will. I can't love and will never forgive and I'll never, ever forget."

Collard was initially set to stand trial on second degree murder charges, the only charge without a statute of limitations, but he accepted a plea deal last month after waving that statute.