ANGOLA, Ind.  (WOWO):  It's 40 years in prison for Mahfuz Huq.  Steuben Superior Court Judge William Fee accepted a plea bargain of voluntary manslaughter in the 1989 stabbing death of Todd Kelley.

Huq had been on the run for 24 years after fleeing the country immediately after the crime at Steuben County's Hamilton Lake.

During that time, Huq assumed the name of Asif Huqe and was a well-respected teacher, coach and community leader at an elite international School in Bangladesh. A country regarded as one of the poorest nations in the world.

Court documents show that Huq stabbed Kelley seven times at his home August 9, 1989, including a fatal blow to the heart.

He was captured in 2011 on a trip with the schools tennis team to India.

Judge William Fee remarked, “I've never seen a case surrounded by many good people.”  A reference to Kelley's family testified at the sentencing.  Huq supporters also talked glowingly about a man who was a professional in every sense of the word and his past was a stunning dose of reality.

Four former educators testified of Huq's efforts to make a difference to the people in the city of Dhaka.

Fee said there was “no question he was a valued member of his community,” and he “made substantial efforts to redeem himself.”

The judge did add, by fleeing he made the situation much worse for himself and the Kelley family. He called the balancing of his work as a teacher against leaving the country, “a wash.”

Fee said the end of the case would not “provide closure,” but only was the end of the legal phase. The incident would continue for a lifetime for those involved.