photo courtesy of Sun Times Media

(WHEATON) A former west suburban man will spend 65 years in prison for kidnapping his ex-girlfriend after fatally stabbing her new boyfriend as the couple went for a walk near her Darien home.

At a jury trial last November, Joseph Spitalli was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Teymur Huseynli of Skokie; and of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

Spitalli, 36, formerly of Darien, must serve 100 percent of his 50-year sentence for the murder charge, the state’s attorney’s office said Tuesday. He was also sentenced to 18 years for the kidnapping, of which he must serve 85 percent, for a total of just over 65 years.

Judge Daniel Guerin imposed the sentence at a hearing Tuesday, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

The slaying happened just after midnight on Nov. 17, 2012, after Spitalli confronted his ex-girlfriend and Huseynli, her current boyfriend, while the couple was walking a dog near her Darien apartment, prosecutors said.

The two men argued, and it turned violent, prosecutors said. Spitalli grabbed Huseynli from behind and slit his throat, then forced his ex-girlfriend, then 28, into his car at knifepoint.

He threatened to kill her and her daughter if she didn’t lie to police to say that she was the victim of a battery — a story Spitalli concocted to avoid responsibility for the murder, prosecutors claimed.

Spitalli tried unsuccessfully to blame the murder on the ex-girlfriend, authorities said. He later claimed he accidentally slashed the man’s throat, even though Huseynli had been nearly decapitated.

“From the moment he murdered Teymur Huseynli, Mr. Spitalli tried everything he could think of to avoid responsibility,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, calling the evidence in the case “overwhelming.”

“I would like to express my sincere condolences to Teymur’s family and friends on their heartbreaking loss. Perhaps with today’s sentencing, they will be able to find some comfort knowing that the man responsible for Teymur’s murder will spend the next 65 years of his life behind bars,” Berlin said.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC