A man who pleaded guilty in January to playing a part in the stabbing death of a St. Joseph man found dumped in the Platte River in 2015 will spend nearly two decades behind bars.

Primalton Peterson III was sentenced Monday to serve 15 years for second-degree murder, five consecutive years for armed criminal action, and four concurrent years for abandonment of a corpse.

Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins said Peterson would be required to serve 85-percent of the sentence for second-degree murder before he would be eligible for parole.

Peterson and two others were charged with stabbing Richard Berry to death and dumping Berry’s body in the third fork of the Platte River in April of 2015 where he was later found.

Also charged were Kelli Hoard, 44 of Elwood, Kan. and Sean Liechti, 25 of St. Joseph.  Hoard pleaded guilty in October to a charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Leichti also pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.