MIRAMICHI, N.B.- A jury has found a 32 year old Burnt Church man guilty of the first degree murder of his cousin.

On the second day of deliberations the jury returned the verdict against Curtis Wayne Bonnell in the September 2009 death of 16 year old Hilary Bonnell.

Bonnell will spend at least 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

Judge Fred Ferguson of the Court of Queen’s Bench had told the six-man, six-woman jury that they had the option of finding Bonnell guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter or not guilty of any crime.
    
 Bonnell testified that he woke up from a night of drinking and drugs on Sept. 5, 2009, to find his cousin dead next to him in his pickup truck, but he doesn’t know how she died.
    
He says he panicked and buried her body in a remote wood in Tabusintac.
    
When the trial opened six weeks ago, Crown attorney Bill Richards told the jury that Bonnell held Hilary against her will, sexually assaulted her and killed her.