Pinellas County Man Faces Life Sentence for Rape That Led to Elderly Woman's Death

A jury found Virgil DeBose guilty of felony murder Friday

A Tampa Bay area man will spend the rest of his life in prison for raping an elderly woman, who died a short time later.

A Pinellas County jury found 49-year-old Virgil DeBose guilty Friday of felony murder, sexual battery and burglary. A life sentence was the judge's only option.

Prosecutors say DeBose attacked 78-year-old Audrey Mulligan in her Paradise Shores condo in March 2007. The attack was so brutal that Mulligan broke her hip and pelvis. Mulligan contracted an infection at the hospital and died a month after the attack.

DeBose's defense attorney didn't deny his client was guilty of the attack but insisted the state hadn't proven that DeBose caused Mulligan's death. He said the woman was killed by a bacterial infection, not DeBose.

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