It's been a grueling long fight for Karl Hoerig's family to be able to get to this point of sentencing the woman some thought all along had killed their loved one. 

On Friday night, 21 News talked to Karl's brother, Paul Hoerig, who has been the family's spokesperson about the journey to get to this day.

"He (Karl) was my big brother. He always looked out for me," said Paul Hoerig, the youngest of three brothers.

Paul Hoerig looked up to his older brother Karl and followed in his footsteps all the way up to working together at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

While looking through old photos of his brother, Paul described one saying, "This was Chrismas Eve. We always had a big get together because it is also Karl's birthday." 

Those celebrations came to a tragic and abrupt end nearly 12 years ago when Karl was murdered by his wife, Claudia Hoerig.

"As soon as I was told Karl was dead, I knew automatically it was Claudia," Hoerig said.

When Claudia fled to Brazil, Paul and his family, along with a team of people, worked for ten years and ten months to get her to come back to stand trial, a trial that finally happened last month with her taking the stand.

"Just one lie after another," he said.

He believes she lied from the pregnancies to the negative controlling image she painted of his brother.

"That was hard to listen to because you knew that it just wasn't true. He  (Karl) was definitely not somebody controlling. He was very laid back just a very kind soul," Hoerig said.

Paul feels the jury saw through it by convicting her of aggravated murder and then the judge sentencing her to 28 years to life in prison.

"We're satisfied with the sentence because a deal had to be made with Brazil to get Claudia back and if Dennis Watkins didn't make the deal then we would have never got her back," Hoerig said.

Regarding closure, Paul said, "It's been a long fight. We'll never get Karl back, so it's closure in a way but not completely."  He continued, "It's hard. I think about him all the time."

Memories that will live on forever, after a life tragically cut too short.

Paul believes the court process isn't over yet and that Claudia Hoerig will appeal.