For nearly 22 years, James B. Kuenn kept a terrible secret. After one of the longest murder investigations in Pinellas County history, Kuenn told a jury via videotape what he had kept hidden: He killed Carol Hutto after the 16-year-old resisted his advances during a 1976 tryst in a vacant house. A jury of eight men and four women heard Kuenn's tearful confession and deliberated for 22 minutes before convicting him of first-degree murder. Kuenn, who served on a submarine in Connecticut before his 1998 arrest, wore a stern expression as he was escorted from the courtroom after the verdict. He will be sentenced Tuesday. The U.S. Navy petty officer, now 40, faces a sentence of up to life in prison. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Hutto's family and friends declined comment. A retired Largo police officer who investigated the case in 1976 said the verdict brought some comfort to the victim's family.

WTSP