A Franklin man who was the subject of a manhunt after a woman was found stabbed to death on September 7, 2020, has been sentenced to more than three decades in state prison.

According to a news release, it all started when Howard County 9-1-1 received a call from a residence in the 400 block of Crew Street in Franklin for a female stabbing victim. When Deputies and medical personnel arrived, they found 22-year-old Courtney Clardy, of Blackwater, deceased from stab wounds.

Emmett Wood Jr. was identified as the suspect. The Howard County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued a warrant for the arrest of Wood, charging him with a felony for second-degree murder.

Wood was located in a rural area south of Glasgow the next day, and he was taken into custody.

On March 28, Wood pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action as part of a plea deal. In exchange for Wood’s plea, two first-degree assault charges and one count of second-degree kidnapping were dropped.

On April 18, the court accepted the recommended sentence of the prosecutor, and sentenced Wood to 25 years on the second-degree murder charge and seven years on the armed criminal action charge without the possibility of parole in the Missouri Department of Corrections. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.