Rockford man gets 60 years for 2018 murder

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - Fourteen months after being convicted of first-degree murder, a Rockford man is sentenced to prison.

A Winnebago County judge handed down a 60-year sentence to Nickles Parks, 31, for killing Jamie Stephens and concealing his death.

Stephens was found on December 10, 2018, in a ditch on Knapp Road in Rockford, one day after what would have been his 31st birthday. Investigators determined he’d been shot to death at least three days before he was discovered.

Parks and another man, Joshua Whittie, were developed as suspects in the case. Whittie pleaded guilty to armed robbery and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Illinois.