A man who admitted to police that he killed his wife last year was found guilty after a four-day trial in the 4th Judicial District and sentenced to life in prison.

Stephen Chan, 80, was found guilty on all three of the counts he faced: first-degree murder, kidnapping and assault. Although he turned himself in to police and admitted to the crime, he pleaded not guilty in March, taking his case to trial, court records show.

According to Chan’s arrest affidavit, he called police the morning of Sept. 1, and later arrived at the Colorado Springs police Falcon substation to turn himself in.

“I’ve come to turn myself in. I killed my wife,” he said , according to police.

During his interview with police, Chan said his wife, 54-year-old Jian Chan, had been taking money from him and was having extra-marital affairs for the past 17 years.

Stephen Chan told police that after his wife began taking things he cared about, such as vegetables from his garden and his favorite cooking pot, he decided to tie her up, confront her about her behavior and then kill her. He confessed to strangling Jian Chan and then driving to a nearby pond, where he fired two shots and killed her. He left her body in a bush.

Jian Chan’s body was discovered on a trail near Walsen Road, not far from their residence north of North Gate Boulevard. Police state in the arresting documents that she was bound and appeared to have sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest.

Chan was sentenced shortly after the jury reached its verdict. Judge Linda Billings-Vela handed down a life sentence in the Department of Corrections for the murder. In addition, Chan received 32 years in prison for the assault charge, and another six years for one count of kidnapping.