A Florida woman who beat her husband’s 88-year-old great-grandfather to death in his own bedroom so she could steal his money and flee with her boyfriend has been sentenced to life in prison.

Britney Andrus, 29, received the life sentence Wednesday for the brutal 2020 killing of James Little inside his home in Sebring, Florida. A jury found her guilty in July of second-degree murder, burglary and grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Her boyfriend and accomplice, 25-year-old Tyler Best, had already pleaded guilty to the same charges and later testified against her in court. He was sentenced earlier this year to 15 years behind bars.

Prosecutors said the pair carried out the killing to rob the elderly man and finance a plan to run away together to Michigan.

The crime unfolded inside Little’s home, where Andrus and Best had been living in a mother-in-law suite attached to the property. At the time, Andrus’ husband — Little’s great-grandson — was in jail.

In the days before the attack, investigators said the couple planned to steal Little’s belongings, including jewelry that had belonged to his wife, who had died just one month earlier. They also intended to take his car and travel north to Michigan to live with Andrus’ grandmother.

According to investigators, the violent robbery turned deadly on the afternoon of Oct. 22, 2020.

Detectives said Little was likely awakened by his attackers in his bedroom before being struck repeatedly with an unknown object.

An autopsy later revealed that he had been hit 12 times in the head with blunt force.

“Based on the scene, it was evident the victim was awoken by an intruder, was struck multiple times, and laid hurt in the residence for some time before EMS and law enforcement were notified,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.

The 88-year-old man was rushed to a hospital but died five days later from his injuries.

Shortly after the attack, Andrus ran to a neighbor’s home claiming she had discovered Little unconscious in his bedroom.

But investigators quickly began to suspect something was wrong.

Little’s bedroom had been ransacked. Drawers were open, jewelry boxes were missing, and his car had disappeared. His wallet — containing roughly $1,500 in cash — was also gone.

Detectives noted that a hidden safe inside the home had been taken as well, something only close family members would have known about.

Surveillance footage later showed Andrus and Best driving around town in Little’s car and spending his money. Authorities also learned that Best used some of the stolen cash to buy methamphetamine.

Friends later told investigators that Andrus appeared at their home with blood on her shirt shortly after the killing.

According to testimony presented in court, Andrus told them, “I don’t know what I did,” before adding that the blood was not hers. At one point, she reportedly said, “It was like he was asking for it anyways.”

Best ultimately testified that the killing was Andrus’ idea.

“I told her I wanted nothing to do with it,” Best told the jury. “It was a big argument, I packed a suitcase and left.”

But the suitcase contained items stolen from Little’s home, prosecutors said.

Best later testified that Andrus admitted to the killing.

“She said, ‘I did it, I did it.’ I thought she killed this man. I saw blood on her collar,” he told jurors.

During the sentencing hearing, members of Little’s family described the devastating impact of the crime.

The victim’s grandson, Joshua Little, told the court his grandfather had spent his life helping others.

“He was 88 years old when his life was stolen from him during the golden years of his life,” he said. “Britney stole his life and his dignity.”

Joshua Little also spoke about the pain of imagining his grandfather’s final moments.

“In his final moments I can’t imagine how alone he felt, calling out for my grandmother who was no longer there,” he said.

Andrus’ defense attorney argued that she had struggled with severe mental health issues since childhood, including trauma from discovering her mother’s murdered body when she was just 5 years old.

But prosecutors insisted the crime was a deliberate and brutal act.

“This case is not about her past,” prosecutor John Kromholz told the court. “It’s about her brutally murdering an elderly man while he lay in bed.”

For Little’s family, the life sentence brought a long-awaited sense of justice.

“It was something the family was waiting for for five years,” Little’s son told the Highlands News-Sun after the verdict.