By Joe Dominguez
J.Dominguez@krdo.com

CANON CITY - A Salida man who killed the husband of his girlfriend has been convicted. On Thursday, Andrew Tanner, 23, was found guilty on all nine counts tied to the kidnap and murder of James Durgan in the summer of 2008.

"The initial plan had been hatched several months earlier," said Thom LeDoux.

Durgan's body was found in the Arkansas River, east of Salida. Canon City Police and Fremont County Sheriff's investigators quickly determined that Kristen Durgan and Tanner had wanted to kill James for months.

"It wasn't a heat of the moment decision; they thought it through and decided to not only carryout their plan but when it didn't work they came back and came up with a new plan and carried that out," said LeDoux.

Kristen Durgan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 54 years in prison. Tanner will be sentenced on October 26th. Brian Folsom also pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

The jury foreman called it very cold, calculating and conspiring. He says they may never know specifics of how or why it happened but he felt confident that the jury had done the right thing.

The District Attorney for the Fremont County area says he's pleased with the verdict and hopes the conviction brings some relief to family and friends of James Durgan.

"Clearly in such a tragic case nothing can really undo the harm that was a result of these horrific crimes so i think they're happy with the outcome but still very sad over the loss of their loved one."