ST. MARIES - A 28-year-old woman who brutally killed her uncle and burned his body in May of last year near St. Maries will spend at least the next three decades locked up.

Melisa R. Bates appeared on Thursday in a St. Maries courtroom and received what's called an indeterminate life sentence, meaning she might spend the rest of her life in custody.

First District Court Judge Fred Gibler, however, set the fixed portion of her sentence at 30 years.

Last month, following court-ordered mediation, she agreed to be sentenced for murdering Robert D. Marek, 43. She entered an Alford plea to the charge of second-degree murder.

The murder was committed May 15, 2011, at Marek's home about 8 miles south of St. Maries along Highway 3.

Gibler said Bates suffers from "severe" mental illness, but that's not a defense in Idaho, but more of a mitigating factor to consider at sentencing.

Gibler cited a recent mental-health evaluation of her, which "strongly recommended" that Bates be locked up at a secure facility because she poses a significant risk to the community.

Bates' defense attorney, Will Butler, said she grew up in St. Maries, and was a good student and athlete in school.

Mental illness started showing up in her early teens, he said.

"There are 10 different diagnoses for what Melisa is," he said.

"Probably the best definition is that Melisa is mentally ill."

Bates got married at 17 and then later divorced. She has a son and daughter.

Butler said Bates can be rehabilitated with the proper medication and therapy.

He asked the court to settle on a sentence that will bring healing to Bates and her family.

Bates was given a chance to address the court, but her scattered statements were without logical or meaningful connection to her crime or the sentencing hearing.

She ended with: "I do not. I repeat. I do not want any more connection with my biological family."

One member of that family addressed the court.

Deann Turcott, Bates' aunt, said Bates went through dramatic changes emotionally and mentally in her early teens.

"She just started to disconnect with the world and reality," Turcott said.

She said Bates falsely believed that people were always abusing her.

At her best, she said Bates was a hard worker, a great athlete and good student, echoing Butler's descriptions.

After spending nearly two years in a psychiatric hospital in Orofino, Bates showed improvement, Turcott said.

But then Bates stopped taking her medication and got off track again.

"Something inside her snapped a long time ago," Turcott said.

The state of Idaho's mental-health system failed Bates and her family, Turcott said.

She's afraid for Bates in prison, because of her condition.

"Let us know she is safe," she told Gibler.

As for Marek, she said, "He was a sweet man and didn't deserve to die like that. He loved (Bates)."

Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne said the case lacked any real motive.

When Bates was having a tough time, and needed a place to live, Marek took her in. She killed him soon afterward.

Bates demonstrated a mixture of rational and irrational thoughts, Payne said.

During Bates' preliminary hearing, evidence presented by Payne alleged that Bates shot her uncle, beat him with a metal rod and then burned his body in the backyard of his home.

Human remains, mostly bone, were found in a hastily arranged makeshift fire pit in the middle of Marek's lawn.

His body was burned along with tires, wood and hay, ringed by rocks and cinder blocks.

Dumped in a trash can at Marek's home, investigators found a wedding dress, a graduation certificate from a life-skills program she completed, a court judgment document from a domestic violence case she was a defendant in, and a Social Security document for her.

Bates was arrested at a boat launch in Bayview on Lake Pend Oreille as she prepared to head across the lake to Lakeview, a community she previously had been living in.

In a video-recorded interview with police, Bates admitted shooting Marek and burning his body. She also admitted throwing the gun into the St. Joe River.

Also during the preliminary hearing, two witnesses testified that they saw Bates at Marek's home on the night he was killed.

She told both men, who had stopped by, that she was having problems with the plumbing at Marek's home. Both noticed the backyard fire blazing, despite the pouring rain.

One of the witnesses said Bates kept saying the water flowing at Marek's was "blood red."

Thinking it was an odd description, he attempted to correct her by suggesting she meant "rusty." She persisted in her description.

As for Marek's whereabouts, he said Bates told him Marek is "out back someplace."

Bates let the man inside Marek's home to see if he could help with the plumbing. He even went out back to the pump house, right next to the roaring fire pit where Marek's body was then burning.

Butler, during Thursday's sentencing hearing, argued that no person in their right mind would walk a potential witness right past a murdered victim's burning body.

Another friend of Marek's who testified at the preliminary hearing recalled an argument between Marek and Bates over the sale of property.

After Marek told Bates to mind her own business, she allegedly stood up and responded, "I can shoot you right between the (expletive) eyes, and it won't bother me a bit."