WASHINGTON - In court Friday, Michael Dickerson begged for forgiveness from his 13-year-old daughter for murdering her mother, bringing an end to a family's 13-year search for justice.

Dickerson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of Shaquita Bell. He apologized to Bell's family, focusing on Micha, the 13-year-old daughter he had with Bell:

"I'm sorry for what I did," Dickerson said in court. "Please don't hate me. I hope you will have it in your heart to forgive me."

Dickerson claimed he was a changed man in court. His daughter and Bell's family was in tears. But Bell's mother, Jackie Winborne, was skeptical.

"I'm not sure if, in fact, he meant what he said," she said. "I feel that if he gave his life to Christ in 2003, he should have talked to us back in 2003. He still could have saved us years of grief."

Shaquita Bell's body has never been found.

Dickerson had previously admitted in court to killing Bell, his then-girlfriend. Her body has never been found, even though Dickerson cooperated with investigators in a search for it.

"I don't understand that," her uncle, Larry Saunders, said. "If you're burying somebody you killed ... You got to remember where she is."

Bell disappeared after leaving an Alexandria (web | news) home with Dickerson, her boyfriend at the time and the father of her youngest daughter. Bell's grandmother can still recall that day.

"She called to say she'd be a little while, but she never get here," Vernell Saunders said. "She left her children with me."

Dickerson has already served 12 years in prison for assaulting Bell. Her family wanted Dickerson to spend the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors said the cut a deal with him because they questioned whether they could win the case.

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