Richie Edwin Wilder Jr., 31, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday for the brutal murder of his ex-wife.

Angila Wilder was stabbed or cut 44 times in the face, neck and upper chest during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2015 in the bedroom of her home at 519-16th Street NW. Some of the wounds were three or four inches deep.

“This was a cold, calculated, cowardly act that resulted in the death of a sleeping victim who was murdered in her own bed,” said Judge Gary Lee before he pronounced the sentence.

A jury found Richie Wilder Jr. guilty last December of Class AA felony murder.

Richie Wilder Jr. had a tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife and had previously been convicted of choking her and threatening her when they were living at Minot Air Force Base in December 2011. Richie and Angila Wilder had continued to argue over custody and visitation with their two children.

Lee said Wednesday that Wilder watched and planned the murder for a time when Angila Wilder would be alone and asleep in her home and few if any witnesses would see him approaching the house.

The only other person present in the home that night was Angila Wilder’s 2-year-old son with her live-in boyfriend, Chris Jackson. Angila Wilder’s two older children, a daughter who is now 12 and a son who is now 6, were staying with Richie Wilder Jr. and his second wife at their residence on the night of the murder.

Lee also ordered that Richie Wilder have no contact ever again with those two children.